- Date
- November 11, 1988, 13:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lajas, PR
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4815FPiper PA-28-151
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 28, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19881111050379A
- Case key
- 32358
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 filled the fuel tanks, made three touch-&-go landings, then departed on a x-country flt. After aprx 1.5 hrs of flt, he elected to reverse course & land at an alternate arpt since he had inadequate fuel to reach his destn. Realizing the fuel supply was also inadequate to reach the alternate, he then elected to make a precautionary landing on a pvt airstrip. During the landing, the acft collided with a steel cable supported by a drum (one of many strung across the rwy to prevent unauthorized use). The hobbs meter indicated the plane had been flown 4.5 hrs since refueling. The plt stated he did not perform fuel consumption calculations. The left & right fuel tanks were drained & found to contain 1.8 & 2.6 gallons, respectively. Unusable fuel for each tank was one gallon.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4815F
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-151
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7715069
- Airframe hours
- 3,497
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E3D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Isla Grande Flying School
- Registered owner
- Flight World, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 20, 1988 · 29 hours before
- Departed
- SIG · Sanjuan, PR
- Destination
- NONE · Isla Mona, PR
- Airport
- NONE · Lajas (Pvt)
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
- 61
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,200 total · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TJMZ, 43 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.