Piper PA 30 accident near St. Petersburg, FL
On September 30, 2015, a Piper PA 30 (airplane) was involved in an accident near St. Petersburg, FL. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- September 30, 2015
- Place
- St. Petersburg, FL
- Aircraft
- Piper PA 30 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 27.920°N, 82.689°W
- NTSB ID
- 20150925X54323
Official records · ERA15FA378
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn September 30, 2015, at 1147 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-30, N21ND, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain during takeoff from St Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE), Clearwater, Florida. The commercial pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was registered to Sowards Aircraft Leasing, LLC, and was operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions were reported near the accident site, and no flight plan was filed. The airplane owner, who purchased the airplane 3 days before the accident flight, stated that he dispatched the accident pilot from San Diego, California, to Saint Petersburg, Florida, to pick up the airplane and fly it back to southern California. The airplane had recently undergone maintenance and an annual inspection. On the morning of the accident, the pilot arrived at the airplane to meet the previous owner, accept the airplane, and review airplane-specific procedures and systems before the flight to California. According to the previous owner, they reviewed the airplane systems and spent much of their time going over aircraft performance characteristics and airspeeds. In addition, the previous owner stated that he told the pilot, "…if an engine loses power, you've got to keep the speed up." The previous owner offered several times to fly with the accident pilot for some additional familiarization training, but the pilot declined. The pilot stated that he planned to perform some "touch-and-goes" to familiarize himself with the airplane bef
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain single-engine minimum controllable airspeed following a loss of right engine power during initial climb. Also causal was the loss of right engine power for reasons that could not be determined because examination of the wreckage revealed no significant mechanical deficiencies. Contributing to the outcome was the failure of maintenance personnel to ensure that requir
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Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
