- Date
- July 28, 1990, 05:40 local (09:40 UTC)
- Place
- Delray Beach, FL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N3RPiper PA-30
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report September 28, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900728029009A
- Case key
- 32688
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The loss of directional control during the initial climb following the reported loss of power from the left engine for undetermined reasons.
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 fuel tanks were topped the night before the accident & the acft was left outside. During the preflt, the plt drained each fuel tank for about 5 seconds using the cockpit drain but a container was not used. Eng runup prior to departure was normal. After rotation, acft yawed to the lt. he applied rt rudder but the acft collided with trees, a powerline, then the ground. There was no fire. Fire dept personnel turned off the fuel selectors which were positioned from each main tank to eng. Fuel tanks were drained & no determination could be made as to whether there were contaminants. Lt eng gascolator was clean but rt eng gascolator contained sediment. Exam of the lt eng revealed the lt mag was not correctly timed to the eng but the rt mag was. Both magnetos were tested & operated normally. The fuel servo, distributor valve, nozzles & lines were removed for testing & operated normally. No determination could be made as to the reason for the reported loss of eng pwr from the lt eng.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3R
- Reported as
- Piper PA-30
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 30-236
- Airframe hours
- 4,434
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320-B1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Air Sport, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 13, 1990 · 22 hours before
- Destination
- BCT · Boca Raton, FL
- Airport
- 3X1 · Antiquers Aerodrome, runway 27, 4,000 × 150 ft, grass/turf
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
- 54
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight engineer, Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 22,270 total · 125 in this make and model · 14,800 as pilot in command · 119 in the last 90 days · 85 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 290° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PBI, 14 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.