- Date
- April 27, 1984, 09:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lone Pine, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N56981Piper PA-28R-200
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840427028069A
- Case key
- 23970
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
When the acft did not return from a x-country flt, a search was initiated. However, the acft was not found until hikers discovered the wreckage on 6/29/84. Impact occurred at about the 9000 ft level in mountainous terrain. The outer wing panels & horizontal stabilators were found at a remote distance from the main wreckage. An exam of the fracture surfaces revealed no preexisting cracks. Prior to the flt, the non-instrument rated plt was advised that VFR flt was not recommended. The mountain tops were forcasted to be obscured with broken to overcast cloud bases at 8000 to 10,000 ft. cloud tops were forcasted to be in the vicinity of 20,000 ft. snow showers were expected above the freezing level.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N56981
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28R-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28R-7435069
- Airframe hours
- 4,074
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-C1C, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Union Flights
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 13, 1984 · 70 hours before
- Departed
- SAC · Sacramento, CA
- Destination
- LAS · Las Vegas, NV
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 57
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 250 total · 100 in this make and model · 170 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BIH, 60 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.