- Date
- March 12, 1984, 11:42 local (19:42 UTC)
- Place
- Hood River, OR
- Injuries
- 6 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8301TPiper PA-28RT-201
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840312006519A
- Case key
- 39797
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
After crossing the dalles at 12,500 ft MSL, the plt reported to ARTCC he was entering solid clouds. He subsequently reported level at 3,000 ft MSL followed by 'if ah we can't stay VFR we'll go ahead and climb up to about five and file IFR.' The acft was observed flying in & out of patches of 'light fog' at about 450 to 500 ft AGL near an interstate hwy & close to mountains. A witness reported the top third of the mountains adjacent to the gorge was obscured. The acft impacted a steep sloping ridge. On previous portions of the x-country flt, which originated in Alabama, the plt had flown in IFR conditions & had executed an instrument approach. His logbook indicated that he had flown a total of 16.6 hours of actual instrument time. The acft's CG was estimated to be aprx .6 inch behind the aft limit. Two of the occupants were small children weighing 31 & 37 lbs.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8301T
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28RT-201 (PA-28RT-20)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28R-8118030
- Airframe hours
- 26,403
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-C1C6, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Maxwell-Gunter Afb Aero Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 13, 1983 · 8,073 hours before
- Departed
- LMT · Klamth Falls, OR
- Destination
- TTD · Troutdale, OR
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 29
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 181 total · 50 in this make and model · 135 as pilot in command · 29 in the last 90 days · 23 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- 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.