Piper PA-46-310P accident near Dawsonville, GA
On December 3, 2013, a Piper PA-46-310P (airplane) was involved in an accident near Dawsonville, GA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- December 3, 2013
- Place
- Dawsonville, GA
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-46-310P · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 34.412°N, 84.016°W
- NTSB ID
- 20131202X13615
Official records · ERA14FA058
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
Air traffic control records
- ATC Partial Transcript: Transcript (PDF), on ntsb.gov
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn December 2, 2013, at 1919 eastern standard time (EST), a Piper PA-46-310P, N87NF, was destroyed following an inflight break up, and impact with terrain in a heavily wooded area near Dawsonville, Georgia. Night instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight. The private pilot was fatally injured. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The flight departed Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU), Morristown, New Jersey, around 1635 with the intended destination of Dekalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK), Atlanta, Georgia. According to recorded Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Control (ATC) data, the airplane checked in on the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center. The controller verified that the pilot had the local weather information for the intended destination of PDK. Then, the controller queried the pilot about the airplane heading and asked if he was able to hold the assigned airplane altitude. The pilot responded affirmative and that he was having trouble with his autopilot. The controller then issued the airplane a heading of 200 degrees and an altitude of 8,000 feet mean sea level (msl). The aircraft had descended below 8,000 feet msl and the controller issued a revised altitude of 7,000 feet msl. There was no response from the flight and radar contact was lost, with the last recorded radar data occurring at 1918. Search and Rescue was initiated immediately and local law enforcement received emergency calls repo
Probable cause
The pilot’s in-flight loss of airplane control due to spatial disorientation while operating in dark night instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in the exceedance of the airplane’s design stress limitations and a subsequent in-flight breakup. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s distraction by the reported malfunction of the autopilot system.
More accidents in GA
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Browse: Georgia · 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.
