- Date
- February 14, 1989
- Place
- Pacific Ocean (Pacific Ocean)
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N41169Piper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 12, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890214002029A
- Case key
- 26345
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Loss of oil pressure due to unknown circumstances. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the overweight condition of the airplane necessitated by overwater fuel requirements.
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
During cruise flight, the right engine suddenly lost oil pressure. The pilot could see that oil was coming out of the engine area. The pilot shut the engine down. Due to high gross weight, the airplane was unable to maintain altitude on the remaining engine. The airplane was ditched in the Ocean and not recovered.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N41169
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3 1-8452009
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Ferry · Part 91
- Operator
- Southern Cross Aviation
- Registered owner
- Charles R. Farnn Grain Elev.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Pago Pago, PO
- Destination
- ASNF · Norfolk Island, PO
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 41
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Expired
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 9,000 total · 300 in this make and model · 8,700 as pilot in command · 150 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 25 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.