- Date
- April 7, 1986, 02:28 local (09:28 UTC)
- Place
- Mesa, AZ
- Injuries
- 5 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N555KSPiper PA-23-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report August 11, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860407010029A
- Case key
- 24907
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
While on the fourth leg of an IFR business flight from stow, Ohio to santa paula, California, the airplane experienced fuel exhaustion and crashed about 1 1/2 miles northeast of falcon field (ffz), Mesa, Arizona. The flight was being conducted under the auspicies of kent state university's flight department. All of the occupants were certificated pilots, two of which were certified flight instructors, including the university's director of flight operations/chief flight instructor. The PIC of the accident segment was a certificated flight instructor. The PIC noted on the flight plan an enroute flight time of 4 hours, and 5 hours total fuel. The post accident investigation disclosed no evidence of any airplane preexisting malfunctions or failures. The airplane's block time was 4 hours and 59 minutes.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N555KS
- Reported as
- Piper PA-23-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 27-3744
- Airframe hours
- 7,583
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-C4B5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Kent State University Airport
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 26, 1985 · 81 hours before
- Departed
- AMA · Amarillo, TX
- Destination
- PHX · Phoenix, AZ
- Flight plan
- VFR/IFR
- Airport
- FFZ · Falcon Field
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
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 612 total · 25 in this make and model · 586 as pilot in command · 58 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 240° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 35 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,100 ft broken
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PHX, 14 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.