Piper PA28R accident near Kaplan, LA
On August 31, 2018, a Piper PA28R (airplane) was involved in an accident near Kaplan, LA. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- August 31, 2018
- Place
- Kaplan, LA
- Aircraft
- Piper PA28R · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 30.039°N, 92.371°W
- NTSB ID
- 20180831X10324
Official records · CEN18FA359
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn August 31, 2018, about 0756 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28R airplane, N7430J, impacted a tower near Kaplan, Louisiana. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured, and the airplane was destroyed. The airplane was registered to a private individual and operated by Space City Aviators under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight, which departed without a flight plan from Abbeville Chris Crusta Memorial Airport (IYA), Abbeville, Louisiana, about 0746. The pilot and his daughter were returning toward their home state of Texas following a vacation to Florida. They arrived to IYA on the afternoon before the accident and stayed overnight at a hotel in Abbeville. According to a hotel surveillance camera, they departed this hotel at 0708. Following departure from IYA, an uncontrolled airport, the airplane flew about 15 miles to the northwest, where it struck a television/radio tower in a rural area. The tower's height was 1,793 ft above ground level and the airplane impacted about 200 ft below the apex of the tower. The highly fragmented wreckage was dispersed over an area about 700 ft wide. The tower collapsed and the buildings at the base of the tower, which were unoccupied, caught fire and were destroyed. No ground injuries occurred. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe pilot, age 45, held a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airline transport pilot certificate with airplane single-engine land, multi-engine land, and instrument airplane ratings, as well as a flight in
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from a charted and illuminated television/radio tower.
More accidents in LA
- Sikorsky S-76C, Jan 4, 2009
- Cessna 411A, May 8, 1986
- Piper PA 31T, Dec 28, 2019
- Beech E90, Jun 24, 2005
- Bell 206L-3, May 10, 1994
Browse: Louisiana · 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.
