- Date
- March 24, 1989, 13:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Pittstown, NJ
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4385LPiper PA-28-181
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 31, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890324010299A
- Case key
- 36388
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
Improper inflight planning which led to engine failure due to fuel exhaustion.
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 of the Piper PA-28 was at cruise altitude when he reported to ATC that he was running low on fuel. At that point he was 7 miles from allentown airport, but chose to continue to his destination airport. About 10 minutes later he asked ATC to get him to the nearest airport because fuel was getting critical. About 23 minutes after first reporting low fuel to ATC the engine quit. The aircraft was vectored to the nearest airport. Radar contact was lost at 1100 feet and 2 1/2 miles north of alexandria airport. After breaking out of the clouds on approach to the airport the aircraft started clipping trees. The pilot flared the aircraft to slow the forward speed and crashed into the trees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4385L
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-8590024
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Dyna Flite Corp.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 30, 1989 · 60 hours before
- Departed
- Richmond Hts, OH
- Destination
- 39N · Princeton, NJ
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 25
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 184 total · 93 in this make and model · 9 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.