ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 36521
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Date: | Wednesday 14 June 1995 |
Time: | 21:54 |
Type: | Piper PA-31P-350 Mojave |
Owner/operator: | Executive Aviation LLC |
Registration: | N922DC |
MSN: | 31P-8414028 |
Year of manufacture: | 1984 |
Total airframe hrs: | 2423 hours |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Category: | Accident |
Location: | Cedar Bluff, Tazewell County, Virgina -
United States of America
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Executive |
Departure airport: | Nashville International Airport, Nashville, Tennessee (BNA)/KBNA |
Destination airport: | Lancaster Airport, Lancaster, Pennsylvania (LNS/KLNS) |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:On June 14, 1995, at about 21:54 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), a Piper PA-31P-350, N922DC, disappeared from the Atlanta, Georgia, Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) radar tracking system. The pilot and two passengers were fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed. The wreckage was located near Cedar Bluff, Virginia. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed. The business flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from Nashville, Tennessee at 20:34 EDT and the intended destination was Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Control (ATC) records, at 18:20 EDT the pilot contacted Nashville, Tennessee (BNA) Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS). The pilot filed an IFR flight plan from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Nashville, then filed another flight plan from Nashville to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The BNA AFSS personnel issued a complete weather briefing. He advised the pilot of severe weather along his intended route of flight, and relayed two updated SIGMETs, and flight precautions for turbulence. (For details, see excerpts from ATC package section.)
ATC records indicate that at 19:54 EDT, the pilot contacted BNA air traffic control tower (ATCT) and requested and received the IFR clearance to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. At 20:34 EDT, the airplane departed Nashville, and was cleared to climb and maintain 11,000 feet mean sea level (MSL.) According to ATC transcripts, at 20:50 EDT, the pilot requested and received clearance to 17,000 feet MSL.
At 21:19 EDT, the pilot contacted Indianapolis (ZID) Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), and asked about weather deviations. ARTCC personnel advised the pilot that aircraft were deviating to the south. The pilot requested and received clearance to deviate to the south around weather.
At about 21:42 EDT, ZID ARTCC coordinated the weather deviation and routing for N922DC with Atlanta (ZTL) ARTCC, and N922DC was transferred to ZTL ARTCC. The pilot contacted ZTL ARTCC at 21:44.36 EDT, and stated "...it looks like I might have to go east further yet, uh, on my routing." The pilot further stated "...I got some pretty good weather up here...if you guys will help me through...some of the lightning looks pretty good." At 21:45.09 EDT, the ZTL ARTCC controller advised the pilot that he didn't see any weather directly along the airplane's flight path, but added "...let me know how you want to deviate, we'll be able to work it out I'm sure."
At 21:49.19 EDT, the pilot asked the ZTL ARTCC controller if there was previous traffic along his route of flight, and asked: "Did they get a fairly smooth ride, or..." The ATL ARTCC controller responded: "No complaints." At 21:50.36 EDT, the pilot of N922DC requested clearance to climb to 19,000 MSL, and the ZTL ARTCC controller acknowledged the request.
At 21:52.19 EDT, the pilot stated "...[N922DC] would like to uh...uh take a right turn and get out of this weather." At 21:52.27 EDT, the ZTL ARTCC controller responded "...deviation right of course approved...climb and maintain [19,000 feet MSL.]" The pilot acknowledged the climb clearance.
At 21:52.59 EDT, the pilot stated "...going to go ahead and descend back, we're going to go down to [15,000 feet MSL.]" The ZTL ARTCC controller queried the pilot as to his intentions. At 21:53.15 EDT, the pilot stated: "Well, I'm getting icing and uh, I just, uh... ."
According to the ATC transcript, during the next 60 seconds, the ZTL ARTCC controller attempted to reestablish radio communications with N922DC, but the transmissions from the aircraft were broken and unreadable. At 21:54.38 EDT, the pilot of N922DC stated "...trying to get out of this mess." There were no further transmissions from the accident airplane. According to radar data, at 21:53.30 EDT the airplane's transponder signal was lost; less than one second later the airplane disappeared off the controller's radar screen.
The accident occurred during the hours of darkness, and the main wreckage site was located at latitude 37 degrees 00 minutes 08 seconds North, and longitude 81 degrees 49 minutes 29 seconds west. The airplane wreckage was scattered over a three mile area. The main wreckage contained the fuselage, the left wing, part of the right wing, and the empennage. The outboard 9 1/2 feet of the leading edge of the right wing separated, and was not recovered. The outboard sections of the right wing upper and lower wing spars, stringers, and leading edge exhibited bending in the upward and aft direction. The left wing remained intact. The outboard edge of the left aileron exhibited buckling about 4 inches from the trailing edge of the aileron. Both wing main spars exhibited localized down and aft bending in the vicinity of the engine firewall. The airplane's two engines were separated from the fuselage and were located about one mile from the main wreckage.
CAUSE: the pilot's improper planning/decision, and his allowing the airplane to exceed its maximum design/stress limitation. Factors relating to the accident were: the adverse weather conditions, and the pilot's continued flight into adverse weather.
Sources:
1. NTSB Identification: BFO95FA064 at
https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/NTSB.Aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001207X03625&key=1 2. FAA:
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=922DC 3. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1995/archives/crash-of-a-piper-pa-31-navajo-chieftain-in-virginia-3-killed/]
4.
http://planecrashmap.com/plane/va/N922DC/ Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
24-Oct-2008 10:30 |
ASN archive |
Added |
21-Jun-2015 23:24 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
21-Dec-2016 19:23 |
ASN Update Bot |
Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
11-Oct-2017 16:05 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
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