- Date
- September 11, 1985, 08:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Hoskins, NE
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N15970Piper PA-28-180
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850911044199A
- Case key
- 33855
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
This accident occurred on a telephone cable patrl flt. The acft would normally fly along the route of the buried cable at 200 to 300 ft AGL. When construction activity was sighted the plt would first record the sighting on a portable tape recorder and then call the telephone company on a radio/telephone. The control head for the radio/telephone occupied the place of the removed right, rear seat. Witnesses said the acft circled twice in the vicinity of the accident site before the crash. They siad there were low clouds with haze but good visibility below the clouds. The acft impacted in a shallow left bank in a slightly nose low attitude. A message on a tape recorder found in the wreckage described construction activity near the cable in an area one mi w of the accident site. Telephone company personnel said that they did not receive a report from the plt.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N15970
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7305202
- Airframe hours
- 5,446
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Aerial observation · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gloria & Jay Pouzar
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 1985 · 103 hours before
- Departed
- ONL · O'Neill, NE
- Destination
- SUX · Sioux City, IA
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
- 40
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 2,677 total · 273 in this make and model · 2,518 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- Wind
- 130° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 4 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 600 ft overcast
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- OFK, 12 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 N15970 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.