- Date
- July 16, 1992, 09:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- Shafter, CA
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N327PLPiper PA-32R-301T
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920716025739A
- Case key
- 27688
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
The pic's poor preflight planning and the pic's and flight instructor/passenger's failure to use the emergency checklist. The loss of engine power due to fuel starvation was a factor in the accident.
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
After approximately forty minutes into the flight and while the aircraft was 8,000 feet above the terrain, the engine failed after the pilot changed the fuel selector from the right fuel tank to the left fuel tank. The pilot and CFI passenger failed to use the emergency checklist and were unable to restart the engine. The aircraft landed in an apple orchard. The wreckage examination disclosed no evidence of any fuel in the left fuel tank. The engine operated normally during the wreckage examination.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N327PL
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32R-301T (PA-32R-301)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-8229011
- Airframe hours
- 1,889
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-S1AD, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Barry Zelner Prof. Law Firm
- Registered owner
- Barry Zelner Prof. Law Firm
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 1992 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- VNY · Van Nuys, CA
- Destination
- VIS · Visalia, 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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Expired
- Flight hours
- 500 total · 150 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.