LAX83FA414

NTSB accident investigation · Piper PA-28-140 · Tahoe City, CA · December 8, 1982

Accident · FatalField investigationFinal report
Date
December 7, 1982, 17:00 local (Dec 8, 1982, 01:00 UTC)
Place
Tahoe City, CA
Injuries
2 fatal
Damage
Destroyed
Phase of flight
Enroute
Aircraft
N5468TPiper PA-28-140
Weather
Instrument (IMC) · Dusk
Status
Completed · report December 7, 1983
Report
Approved by Office Director
FAA report
19821207063729A
Case key
72782

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.

In flight encounter with weatherCruise - normal
Preflight planning/preparation - inadequatePilot in commandCause
Terrain condition - high terrainFactor
Weather condition - cloudsFactor
Weather condition - low ceilingFactor
Weather condition - turbulenceFactor
Weather condition - icing conditions
Vfr flight into imc - continuedPilot in commandCause
In flight collision with terrain/waterUnknown
Terrain condition - mountainous/hillyFactor
Terrain condition - risingFactor

Analysis

The owner, a student plt, & an ATP plt departed olympia, WA at aprx 1111 PST on a flt to the lake Tahoe/reno area. When the acft did not arrive, a search was made until 12/22/82. On 8/28/83, the acft was found where it crashed on rising terrain (50 deg slope) at an elevation of aprx 7600 ft (about 600 ft blo the top of the mtn). It impacted in a clearing surrounded by pine trees & came to rest inverted with the left wing partially separated, rearward. A member of the search team remembered snow, 13 to 25 ft deep, in that area & recalled the "the wx was marginal that whole week." An NTSB wx summary reported a probable overcast with bases at aprx 8000 ft MSL; vis 3+ blo the clds, but in the clds, zero vis & mod icg from 5000 to 13000 ft MSL; blo 10000 ft MSL, mod turbc & up/downdrafts. The eng had extensive impact dmg, but little or no dmg was found on the prop spinner or leading edge of the prop blades. The throttle, mixture & carb heatwere found full open, rich & on, respectively. No fuel was found in the inverted fuel tanks. Flap sys found in up psn.

Aircraft

Registration
N5468T
Reported as
Piper PA-28-140
Category
Airplane
Serial number
28-7225414
Airframe hours
1,506
Engine
Lycoming O-320-E3D, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
Damage
Destroyed
Flight
Personal · Part 91
Operator
S. O. Haller
Registered owner
S. O. Haller
Departed
OLM · Olympia, WA
Destination
TVL · Lake Tahoe, CA
Airport
TVL

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
34
Certificates
Commercial, Airline transport
Airplane ratings
Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
Instrument ratings
Airplane
Medical
Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
Flight hours
6,000 total · 100 in this make and model · 60 in the last 90 days

Weather

Conditions
Instrument (IMC) · Dusk
Temperature
73 °F
Altimeter
30.00 inHg
Observed at
NTSB

FAA reports on this event · 1

The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.