- Date
- February 25, 1986, 23:00 local (Feb 26, 1986, 04:00 UTC)
- Place
- St. Cloud, FL
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4081RPiper PA-32-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860225003789A
- Case key
- 31484
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 was on a VFR flt, the wx was clear with an almost full moon when the acft crashed in a fld. There was no evidence of an airframe, flt control system, eng or propeller malfunction or failure. The autopsy & toxicological studies revealed no pre impact condition or illness that could have adversely affected the ability of the plt to operate the acft. The evidence indicated that the acft crashed in a shallow flight path at high speed. The plt worked for a construction company during the day & in air taxi operations at night.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4081R
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-40396
- Airframe hours
- 3,480
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1A5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Cherokee Leasing,Inc., doing business as Cherokee Express
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · February 19, 1986 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- FLL · Ft.Lauderdale, FL
- Destination
- ORL · Orlando, 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
- 26
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 1,500 total · 500 in this make and model · 1,380 as pilot in command · 203 in the last 90 days · 48 in the last 30 days · 8 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 330° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MCO, 17 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.