Piper PA-23E-250 accident near Tucumcari, NM
On May 19, 1999, a Piper PA-23E-250 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Tucumcari, NM. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- May 19, 1999
- Place
- Tucumcari, NM
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-23E-250 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 35.161°N, 103.719°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001212X18742
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On May 19, 1999, at 1725 mountain daylight time*, a Piper PA-23E-250, N54263, registered to and operated by Staudte Engineering, Inc., was destroyed when it impacted terrain one mile northeast of the Tucumcari Municipal Airport, Tucumcari, New Mexico. The commercial pilot and passenger were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an IFR plan had been filed for the business flight being operated under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated at Tucumcari at 1714. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents, the pilot telephoned the Fort Worth Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) at 1254 central daylight time (cdt), and was given a weather briefing for a proposed IFR flight from Addison, Texas, to Albuquerque, New Mexico. N54263 departed Addison Airport approximately 1330 cdt, and landed at Tucumcari approximately 1600. The airport manager said that as the airplane taxied up to the ramp, he noticed the passenger was sitting in the right seat in the second row. The pilot came into his office and asked how much gasoline $100 would buy. When told that gasoline cost $1.85 per gallon, he "grumbled something about the high cost of gasoline." The airport manager explained that his gasoline was considerably cheaper than gasoline in Albuquerque. He eventually serviced the airplane with 54.0 gallons of fuel: 41.7 gallons were put in the inboard tanks, and 6.3 and 6.0 gallons were put in the right and left outboard tanks, respectively. It is not known how much fuel were in the tip tanks. Total cost was $99.90, and was pai
Probable cause
The pilot's inadvertent stall. A factor was the loss of power of one engine in the twin-engine airplane.
More accidents in NM
- Gates Learjet 25D, Sep 5, 1993
- Piper PA-32-300, Dec 26, 1982
- Mitsubishi MU-2B-30, Jun 25, 1992
- Cessna 421C, Feb 11, 1985
- Beech 58, Mar 26, 1982
Browse: New Mexico · 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.
