Piper PA-31T accident near Fort Lauderdale, FL
On March 15, 2013, a Piper PA-31T (airplane) was involved in an accident near Fort Lauderdale, FL. 3 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- March 15, 2013
- Place
- Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-31T · Airplane
- Injuries
- 3 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 26.192°N, 80.156°W
- NTSB ID
- 20130315X82522
Official records · ERA13FA168
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn March 15, 2013, about 1621 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-31T (Cheyenne), N63CA, owned by M.A.S. Inc., was destroyed after it impacted the ground shortly after takeoff from the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE), Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The airline transport pilot and two passengers were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the local maintenance test flight that was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. According to information obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and personnel interviews, the airplane was purchased by its current owner during November 2012, for a third party in Columbia, and was being prepared for export. The pilot planned to conduct a local test flight after avionics upgrades had been performed. The passengers were a father and son, who both worked at the company that performed the avionics upgrades. Another pilot reported that he was asked by one of the passengers to conduct a test flight in the airplane 2 days before the accident. The pilot stated that he did not have time to conduct a test flight; however, he sat in the cockpit during a ground check of the right engine to troubleshoot a faulty oil temperature gauge. The engine performed normally, with the exception of the oil temperature gauge reading below zero. In addition, a functional check of the avionics was performed with no discrepancies noted. The owner reported that the airplane had undergone engine ground checks during the 4 days prior to the acci
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain airplane control following an emergency, the nature of which could not be determined because of crash and fire damage, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.
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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.
