- Date
- November 1, 1985, 19:55 local (Nov 2, 1985, 00:55 UTC)
- Place
- New York, NY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4007WPiper PA-32-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19851101057219A
- Case key
- 30260
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
According to the pilot, the purpose of the flight was to provide the student with night flying instruction. The preflight and run up revelaed no discrepancies and 10 quarts of oil were determined to be in the engine. The aircraft proceeded south along the hudson river until about 2 miles south of liberty state park where a left turn was entered in order to observe a fireworks display. An engine surge was experienced due to the propeller pitch decreasing and the pilot noticed an odor associated with a hot engine. The pilot noticed the engine oil pressure gauge reading of zero and contacted newark international airport to advise them of the emergency. During the flight to newark, the engine seized and the pilot decided to land parallel to the southern shore of liberty park in the water. After the ditching, the coast guard rescued the two occupants who had exited the aircraft and were standing on the wings.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4007W
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-40008
- Airframe hours
- 3,181
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-KIA5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Scott Dickerson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 29, 1985 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- MMU · Morristown, NJ
- Airport
- 07
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 44
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 3,756 total · 11 in this make and model · 3,489 as pilot in command · 87 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 90° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- EWR, 7 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.