- Date
- September 8, 1990, 13:20 local (17:20 UTC)
- Place
- Montgomery, NY
- Injuries
- 4 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N9327CPiper PA-32RT-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 8, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900908038469A
- Case key
- 36547
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
An inadequate preflight by the pilot which resulted in a power loss 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
Witnesses saw the airplane descend below traffic pattern altitude. The engine was heard to surge. The airplane came through a tree line in a nose high attitude, rolled inverted, and crashed. Examination revealed no evidence of fuel in the fuel tanks, no fuel on the ground, and no evidence of fuel leakage. The engine was subsequently tested and it ran satisfactorily. Records indicated the airplane had been topped off approximately 1.8 hours prior to the accident. The airplane had an outside tiedown and there was a reported fuel theft a few days prior to the accident at the same airport.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9327C
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32RT-300 (PA-32RT-30)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-7885043
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1G5D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- HPN · White Plains, NY
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
- 48
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 913 total · 736 as pilot in command · 69 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- SWF, 8 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.