- Date
- April 5, 1985, 11:05 local (19:05 UTC)
- Place
- Tahoe Paradise, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 3 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N80530Piper PA-28-161
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850405011009A
- Case key
- 24553
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 contacted trees and the terrain during an attempted climb in a narrow canyon. The plt stated he was attempting to climb in order to clear rising terrain in the canyon when a downdraft was encountered. He stated, he cleared the top of the ridge at 9000 ft when the downdraft was experienced and the left wing contacted trees. Level flt could not be maintained and the acft settled into the trees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N80530
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-161
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-8216094
- Airframe hours
- 1,335
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D3G, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Executive Aero Systems, Inc
- Registered owner
- Michael G. Gorman
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 17, 1985 · 86 hours before
- Departed
- TVL · S. Lake Tahoe, CA
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
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 665 total · 90 in this make and model · 635 as pilot in command · 80 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 20° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.