- Date
- March 2, 1990, 04:40 local (12:40 UTC)
- Place
- Prairie City, OR
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2947RPiper PA28R-200
- Weather
- Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report September 21, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900302016989A
- Case key
- 41107
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
Uncontrolled spiralling descent that the pilot did not adequately recover from. The pilots lack of total experience in this type of operation and the dark night condition are a factor.
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
During a night cross country flight, the airplane began to climb, then suddenly entered a left descending turn until collision with the terrain. The weather along the flight course was forecast to have mountains occasionally obscured with clouds and the freezing level was low. During the on-scene investigation, there were no noted mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2947R
- Reported as
- Piper PA28R-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28R-35341
- Airframe hours
- 2,272
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-C1C, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Archer, Frank E.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 1, 1989 · 52 hours before
- Departed
- 7S3 · Hillsboro, OR
- Destination
- BOI · Boise, ID
- 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
- 33
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 160 total · 85 in this make and model · 102 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Temperature
- 25 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BKE, 42 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.