Piper PA32R - 301 accident near Townsend, MT
On March 26, 2015, a Piper PA32R - 301 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Townsend, MT. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- March 26, 2015
- Place
- Townsend, MT
- Aircraft
- Piper PA32R - 301 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 46.448°N, 111.231°W
- NTSB ID
- 20150326X93558
Official records · WPR15FA135
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
Air traffic control records
- Transcript of Weather Brief: Transcript (PDF), on ntsb.gov
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn March 26, 2015, about 1220 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-32R-301, Canadian registration C-GAUS, collided with mountainous terrain about 16 miles northeast of Townsend, Montana. The private pilot was fatally injured, the passenger was seriously injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane was registered to the pilot, and he was operating it under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as a cross-country flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, and a flight plan was not filed. The flight departed about 1200 from Great Falls International Airport (GTF), Great Falls, Montana, and the intended destination was Scottsdale Airport (SDL), Scottsdale, Arizona. According to a fueler at the Springbank Airport (CYBW), near Calgary, Canada, the airplane departed from CYBW on the morning of the accident. The fueler said that the pilot told him that he had decided to delay his departure from CYBW due to unfavorable weather conditions. According to the passenger, who was the pilot's wife, they flew from CYBW to GTF, cleared customs, refueled, and shortly thereafter departed GTF for SDL. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control personnel, after departing from GTF, the pilot received visual flight rules (VFR) flight following services from the non-radar approach control facility at the Helena Regional Airport (HLN), Helena, Montana. The controller solicited and received several position reports from the pilot as the airplane progressed southbound on the east side of
Probable cause
The pilot's decision to depart on and to continue a visual flight rules flight over mountainous terrain into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's lack of recent instrument flight experience, which exacerbated his difficulty in maintaining control of the airplane while encountering downdrafts and mountai
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Browse: Montana · 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.
