- Date
- August 25, 1986, 03:45 local (11:45 UTC)
- Place
- Riverside, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4083RPiper PA-32-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860825045749A
- Case key
- 25251
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 en route to hawthorne airport the aircraft experienced a total loss of power. During a circling descent the pilot attempted to restart the engine without success. The aircraft collided with the terrain 500 ft short of rwy 27 at Riverside airport. The pilot stated that the fuel selector was on the left main when the engine quit. Examination of the fuel tanks revealed that the main tanks were empty and the outboard tanks contained 10 gallons of fuel each.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4083R
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-40399
- Airframe hours
- 5,650
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1A5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Kenneth W. Griffith
- Registered owner
- Gold Coast Air Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 13, 1986 · 36 hours before
- Departed
- PHX · Phoenix, AZ
- Destination
- HHR · Hawthorne, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- RAL · Riverside
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
- 28
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,376 total · 145 in this make and model · 1,341 as pilot in command · 336 in the last 90 days · 104 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.