Piper PA-31-350 accident near Bern Township, PA
On September 5, 2001, a Piper PA-31-350 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Bern Township, PA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- September 5, 2001
- Place
- Bern Township, PA
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-31-350 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 40.381°N, 75.997°W
- NTSB ID
- 20010921X01976
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On September 5, 2001, at 1313 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-31-350, N8PK, operated by Panda Air, Limited, Ferndale, New York, was destroyed when it impacted terrain in Bern Township, Pennsylvania. The airplane was returning for landing, shortly after takeoff from Reading Regional/Carl A. Spaatz Field (RDG), Reading, Pennsylvania. The certificated airline transport pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the flight to Orange County Airport (MGJ), Montgomery, New York. The positioning flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The Reading Air Traffic Control Tower was operating a combined ground/local controller position. At 1301, the pilot called for ground taxi, and was advised to taxi to runway 36. At 1310, the pilot called "ready to go three six, be a right turnout." He was then cleared to take off from runway 36, and make a right turnout on course. At 1312, while a ground vehicle was talking to the tower controller on the ground frequency, the pilot called the tower on the local frequency and stated "...tower, i gotta return, i got an engine problem eight papa kilo." About 10 seconds after the pilot's initial call, the tower controller asked him if he required any assistance. When the pilot did not respond, the controller transmitted that he understood the pilot was returning for a landing, and again asked the pilot if he required any assistance. The pilot's response was, "(unintelligible) ah no, no (unintelligible)." At 1313, the controller told the pilot to fly left traffic for r
Probable cause
The pilot's loss of control for undetermined reasons, which resulted in a high speed dive to the ground.
More accidents in PA
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Browse: Pennsylvania · 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.
