- Date
- July 9, 1989, 08:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- Medicine Lodge, KS
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N5379PPiper PA-24-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 10, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890709020849A
- Case key
- 34690
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 pilot misjudged clearance above a house (residence) that he was buzzing and allowed the aircraft to collide with the attached antenna.
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
A witness rprtd that he heard the acft fly over his house from west to east, so he & his family went out onto the deck on the east side of the house. The acft then apchd the house from the east at low altitude. As the acft went over the house again, its right wing hit the top of an attached tv antenna, aprx 48 ft above the ground. The acft then crashed about 1650 ft from the house.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5379P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-429
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-A1C5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Dale, Matthew
- Registered owner
- Dale, Matt
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 24, 1989
- Departed
- K51 · Medicine Lodge, KS
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
- 33
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 359 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DDC, 76 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 N5379P · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.