- Date
- July 18, 1991, 03:00 local (08:00 UTC)
- Place
- Whitharral, TX
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N9326TPiper PA-38-112
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report January 25, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910718029019A
- Case key
- 23270
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Power loss due to fuel exhaustion. Factors were the pilot's operation with the known inoperative landing light and the dark night.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During a night cross country flight the airplane exhausted fuel on board. The two pilots were without visual references on the dark night forced landing and the landing light was inoperative. The inoperative landing light was detected on the preflight. The airplane struck the ground in a left roll greater than 90 degrees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9326T
- Reported as
- Piper PA-38-112
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 38-78A0034
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 112 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Steven Bernstein, doing business as Levelland Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Steven Bernstein
- Departed
- LBB · Lubbock, TX
- Destination
- Q24 · Levelland, TX
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 22
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 72 total · 72 in this make and model · 37 as pilot in command · 72 in the last 90 days · 59 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 250° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.