Piper PA 31T accident near Eatonton, GA

On June 5, 2020, a Piper PA 31T (airplane) was involved in an accident near Eatonton, GA. 5 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.

Date

June 5, 2020

Place

Eatonton, GA

Aircraft

Piper PA 31T · Airplane

Injuries

5 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor

Damage

Destroyed

Position

33.381°N, 83.329°W

NTSB ID

20200605X80257

Official records · ERA20LA206

• Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation

Air traffic control records

• Audio File - Air Traffic Control Voice Communications: Audio recording (WAV), on ntsb.gov
• NTSB - Partial Air Traffic Control Transcript: Transcript (PDF), on ntsb.gov

NTSB summary

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 5, 2020, about 1520 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-31T, N135VE, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Eatonton, Georgia. The two pilots and the three passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot, who owned the airplane, who was seated in the front left seat of the airplane, and the pilot rated passenger was seated in the front right seat. The pilot filed an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan from Williston Municipal Airport (X60), Williston, Florida, to New Castle Henry County Marlatt Field (UWL), New Castle, Indiana. The airplane departed at 1413, and one of the pilots was in contact with air traffic control (ATC) shortly afterward. A review of ATC communications, radar data, and automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that the airplane flew along a northerly heading at an altitude of 26,000 ft mean sea level (msl). When the airplane was about 50 miles south of Eatonton, Georgia, one of the pilots told ATC that the airplane needed to deviate “to the right a little” to avoid weather. At 1518:02, when the airplane passed over Eatonton, one of the pilots advised ATC that they wanted to proceed direct to their destination on a 353° heading, and ATC acknowledged. At that time, the airplane was at an altitude of about 26,450 ft msl with a groundspeed of about 262 knots. Radar data indicated that the airplane began a left turn to obtain the new heading and that,

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane while maneuvering in instrument meteorological conditions, which placed the airplane in an unusual attitude from which the pilot could not recover. Contributing to the accident was the convective and turbulent weather.

More accidents in GA

• Embraer EMB-120RT, Apr 5, 1991
• Cessna 208, Sep 29, 1985
• Beech 400, Dec 11, 1991
• Embraer EMB-120RT, Aug 21, 1995
• Mitsubishi MU-2B-30, Apr 20, 1982

Browse: Georgia · Piper aircraft

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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.