- Date
- July 4, 1995, 17:05 local (22:05 UTC)
- Place
- Winstonville, MS
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N6323YPiper PA-23-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 13, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19950704016149A
- Case key
- 37794
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
Poor preflight planning/preparation and clearance not maintained by the pilot in command.
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 pilot landed on the highway due to fuel exhaustion then refueled the airplane. He surveyed the area before the attempted takeoff but back taxied past a road sign. During the takeoff ground roll, the left wing of the airplane collided with the road sign and the airplane then veered into a ditch.
Factual narrative
On July 4,1995, about 1705 central daylight time, a Piper PA-23-250, N6323Y, collided with a road sign then a ditch during an attempted takeoff from a highway near Winstonville, Mississippi, while on a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was substantially damaged and the airline transport-rated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight was originating at the time of the accident.
The pilot stated that he landed on the highway due to fuel exhaustion and then refueled the airplane. Before the attempted takeoff he surveyed the area but back taxied past a road sign. During the takeoff ground roll the left wing of the airplane collided with the road sign. The airplane then veered into a ditch and came to rest.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6323Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-23-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 27-3580
- Airframe hours
- 4,640
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Beryl E. Minard
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 22, 1994 · 108 hours before
- Destination
- GLH · Greenville, MS
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
- 71
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 22,042 total · 560 in this make and model · 83 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 4 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GLH, 26 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.
Other investigations on N6323Y · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.