- Date
- August 20, 1997, 07:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- Hayden, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N35164Piper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 2, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970820023169A
- Case key
- 20321
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
The pilot in command's inadequate visual lookout.
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
Cargo had been unloaded from the airplane into a UPS (United Parcel Service) truck. The pilot thought the truck had moved out of the way. As he began to taxi, the airplane's horizontal stabilizer struck the corner of the truck.
Factual narrative
On August 20, 1997, approximately 0745 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-31-350, N35164, operated by Flight Line, Inc., d/b/a American Check Transport, was substantially damaged when it collided with a truck while taxiing for takeoff at Hayden, Colorado. The commercial pilot-in-command, commercial pilot-rated passenger, and the truck driver were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the nonscheduled domestic cargo flight being operated under Title 14 CFR Part 135. The flight was originating when the accident occurred.
According to the company's director of operations, the pilot-rated passenger was aboard the airplane for familiarization purposes. Although he was an employee of the company, he did not have any flight crew duties. In the accident report, the director of operations said that after the cargo had been unloaded and loaded between the airplane and a UPS (United Parcel Service) truck, the pilot prepared for the next trip leg. He thought the truck had moved out of the way. As he began to taxi, the airplane's horizontal stabilizer struck the corner of the truck.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N35164
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-7952090
- Airframe hours
- 15,000
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Flight Line, Inc., doing business as American Check Transport
- Registered owner
- Jamestown Aviation, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 16, 1997 · 70 hours before
- Departed
- HDN
- Destination
- RWL · Rawlins, WY
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- HDN · Yampa Valley Regional
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 26
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,800 total · 160 in this make and model · 1,600 as pilot in command · 150 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HDN
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.