- Date
- June 24, 1985, 17:50 local (21:50 UTC)
- Place
- Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic Ocean)
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N21MLPiper PA-23-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850624077919A
- Case key
- 31417
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 plt reported that during an overwater flt, a fire began in the front section of the acft while he was cruising at 10,500 ft. he radioed his position on the emergency freq (121.5 mhz) & squawked an emergency code (7700) on his transponder. Subsequently, he ditched the acft in the Atlantic Ocean & was rescued by the coast guard about 4 hrs later. The acft sank in the Ocean & was not recovered; therefore, the cause of the fire could not be determined. The plt suspected that it was an electrical fire.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N21ML
- Reported as
- Piper PA-23-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 27-7554134
- Airframe hours
- 1,150
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-C4B5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- In-Flight
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Robert L. Harris
- Registered owner
- Robert L. Harris
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- SJU · San Juan, PR
- Destination
- FLL · Ft.Lauderdale, FL
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 37
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Unknown, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,600 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 30,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SJU, 300 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.