- Date
- March 30, 1988, 08:53 local (13:53 UTC)
- Place
- St Petersburg, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3645EPiper PA-60-601P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 28, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880330039349A
- Case key
- 32155
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 climbing thru 1600 ft when the upper half of the main entry door opened & separated from the acft. The physician plt stated that he was reasonably sure that he had secured the door prior to departure. He stated that although the cabin had not yet pressurized, the door seal had inflated & the cabin was set to pressurize at 2000 ft. the door was recovered from a mobile home park where it had struck a mobile home. An exam of the door revealed the four locking pins were extended or in the locked position. No determination could be made as to the reason for the unwarranted door opening. Since 1980, the Aerostar had been involved in four accidents & eight incidents in which the main cabin entry door opened in flt. One of the accidents resulted in a fatality. On 4-12-88, the NTSB recommended to FAA that an AD note be issued in a effort to correct the problem.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3645E
- Reported as
- Piper PA-60-601P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 61P084581634
- Airframe hours
- 2,867
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540, 290 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Mayflyer, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 3, 1987
- Departed
- PIE
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 44
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,317 total · 227 in this make and model · 1,185 as pilot in command · 36 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PIE, 2 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.