- Date
- January 17, 1985, 02:05 local (07:05 UTC)
- Place
- Key West, FL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N70CZPiper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850117025789A
- Case key
- 31344
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 crashed into the ocean shortly after takeoff on an unautorized flt. The plt was a student plt who worked as a refueler of acft. The student plt took the unattended parked acft without permission and went for a solo flt at sometime around 0200 hrs. The flt ended almost as soon as it began as the acft crashed into the ocean 300 yards offshore from Key West, FL. The acft sank in 10 ft of water.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N70CZ
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-7952169
- Airframe hours
- 5,256
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Southern Express Airways
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 5, 1984 · 6 hours before
- Departed
- EYW · Key West, FL
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
- 25
- Certificate
- Student
- Seat
- Left
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 170° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- EYW, 1 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.