- Date
- April 8, 1983, 19:40 local (Apr 9, 1983, 03:40 UTC)
- Place
- Weaverville, CA
- Injuries
- 6 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N15351Piper PA32-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830408015419A
- Case key
- 23444
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
The acft was being flown to a uni-directional arpt with an instructor plt (CFI) in the right front seat & a student plt/prospective buyer in the left front seat. The rwy elevation was 2230 ft MSL at the south end & 2350 ft at the north end. North of the rwy, the terrain continued to rise & the approach end of rwy 18 was obstructed by trees up to 100 ft tall. Landings were prohibited on rwy 18 & all night operations were prohibited to transient plts. According to the operator (acft), the CFI said he was aware of the obstructions & limitations & was familiar with the arpt. A witness observed the acft touch down at night aprx 1/4 of the way down the rwy, then bounce. The acft disappeared from his view, but several witnesses heard what they described as application of full power. During a go-around, the acft hit the tops of the trees near the north end of the rwy, then crashed & burned. One of the passengers was a pilot & was a resident of Weaverville, CA.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N15351
- Reported as
- Piper PA32-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7340039
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540K1A5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Marion Tanger, doing business as Mr. Aircraft, Incorporated
- Registered owner
- Chico Aviation, Incorporated
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 14, 1983 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- 061 · Cameron Park, CA
- Destination
- 054 · Weaverville, CA
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- 054 · Lonnie Pool, runway 36, 3,380 × 50 ft, asphalt
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
- 35
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,200 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 20,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RDD, 32 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.