Piper PA-28R-200 accident near Lake Michigan, WI
On July 27, 2013, a Piper PA-28R-200 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Lake Michigan, WI. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- July 27, 2013
- Place
- Lake Michigan, WI
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-28R-200 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 42.944°N, 87.772°W
- NTSB ID
- 20130728X01815
Official records · CEN13FA438
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
Air traffic control records
- ATC 3 - ATC Specialist Report: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
- ATC 3 - FAA Accident Package: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
- ATC 3 - MKE Radar Data: Document (ZIP), on ntsb.gov
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn July 27, 2013, at 1438 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28R-200 airplane, N1549X, impacted Lake Michigan about 1.2 miles east of Cudahy, Wisconsin. The airline transport pilot and the passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed. The airplane was registered to and operated by a private individual under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight which operated without a flight plan. The flight originated from the John H Batten Airport (KRAC), Racine, Wisconsin, at 1431. According to a fixed base operator (FBO) employee at KRAC, he saw the pilot in the parking lot before the flight with 4-5 people. Later he heard the pilot's voice on the radio talking to air traffic control (ATC). The pilot was receiving visual flight rules (VFR) flight following services from Milwaukee approach; the pilot was given vectors to fly east over Lake Michigan and then north. On a northerly heading, the pilot flew 1.4 miles behind the final approach course of an MD-80 airplane inbound to the General Mitchell International Airport (KMKE), Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Shortly afterward, radar contact was lost and the air traffic controller was not able to contact the pilot. Milwaukee ATC notified the United States Coast Guard and local authorities that the airplane had disappeared from radar. A search and rescue operation was conducted and about 30 minutes later the airplane wreckage was located by a dive team at the bottom of Lake Michigan. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe pilot in the l
Probable cause
An encounter with wake turbulence, which resulted in the pilot’s loss of control of the airplane and its subsequent in-flight breakup. Contributing to the accident was the approach controller’s failure to issue a wake turbulence advisory to the pilot.
More accidents in WI
- Douglas DC-9-14, Sep 6, 1985
- Beech 200, Nov 16, 1987
- Piper PA-28-140, Feb 3, 1991
- Piper PA-32R-300, Aug 19, 1990
- Cessna 421C, Jul 1, 2017
Browse: Wisconsin · 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.
