Piper PA-28RT-201 accident near Hancock, MD
On May 17, 1993, a Piper PA-28RT-201 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Hancock, MD. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- May 17, 1993
- Place
- Hancock, MD
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-28RT-201 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 39.700°N, 78.171°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001211X12294
NTSB summary
On Sunday, May 16, 1993, at about 2204 eastern daylight time, N8247G, a Piper PA 28RT 201, owned and operated by Indianapolis Aviation Inc. of Fishers, Indiana, and piloted by Bruce A Chalker of Indianapolis, Indiana, crashed in Hancock, Maryland. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The certificated private pilot, the sole occupant, was fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed. The personal flight originated in Frederick, Maryland. The destination was Indianapolis, Indiana, and was conducted under 14 CFR 91. The non-instrument rated pilot was returning home after attending his wife's high school reunion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. He had received a weather briefing from Altoona Flight Service Station, and was handed off from Washington Air Traffic Control Center to Cleveland Center, but his transponder was never picked up. The airplane collided with trees in mountainous terrain roughly 1/4 mile from Potomac Airport. There were no known witnesses to the crash; however, one witness reported that he spoke to the pilot on the night of the accident as he, " seemed lost taxiing around the airport in the rain." The witness reported that he advised the pilot that he had just returned from a flight and that the weather was instrument meteorological conditions. The witness reported that the pilot insisted that he had to return home that evening. A second witness reported that she heard an airplane flying low and that it, " appeared to be in a dive." She also reported that it was raining heavily at the time and that the
Probable cause
IMPROPER PLANNING/DECISION BY THE PILOT, HIS INITIATION OF VFR FLT INTO INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS (IMC), AND HIS LOSS OF AIRCRAFT CONTROL DUE TO SPATIAL DISORIENTATION. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE FOG, RAIN, THE PILOT'S SELF INDUCED PRESSURE, AND HIS LACK OF INSTRUMENT EXPERIENCE.
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Browse: Maryland · Piper aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
