Piper PA-30 accident near Fernandina Bch, FL
On April 4, 2004, a Piper PA-30 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Fernandina Bch, FL. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- April 4, 2004
- Place
- Fernandina Bch, FL
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-30 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 30.608°N, 81.463°W
- NTSB ID
- 20040413X00455
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On April 4, 2004, about 1606 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-30, N14A, registered to Light Wing, LLC, crashed onto airport property shortly after takeoff from Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport, Fernandina Beach, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight from Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport, to Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport, Burlington, North Carolina. The airplane was substantially damaged and the commercial-rated pilot and one passenger were fatally injured. The flight originated about 5 minutes earlier from Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport. One witness who is an airplane mechanic and was outside a hangar located north of runway 08/26, near the midfield of the runway, reported hearing the accident airplane's engines start, and based on the time from the engine start to the time he saw and heard the airplane during takeoff, he thought the pilot had time to perform an engine run-up before takeoff. The airplane departed from runway 26, and after becoming airborne, the gear retracted. The flight climbed to approximately 200 feet and at that time, the airplane banked to the left then quickly back to the right. After that, the airplane then appeared to be flying stabilized. The airplane then flew past the hangar where he was located and he lost sight of the airplane. Another witness who was located east of the previous witness and who is a private-rated pilot reported he did not see the point where the airplane became airborne.
Probable cause
The failure of the pilot to feather the left propeller and his failure to maintain control of the airplane following a loss of engine power from the left engine resulting in the in-flight collision with terrain. A factor in the accident was the loss of power from the left engine for undetermined reasons.
More accidents in FL
- Grumman G-73T, Dec 19, 2005
- Beech B90, Jan 5, 1994
- Beech B-90, Sep 3, 1999
- Cessna 182B, Feb 7, 1982
- Pilatus Aircraft Ltd PC-12/47, Jun 7, 2012
Browse: Florida · 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.
