Piper Aircraft PA 28-140 accident near Houston, TX
On December 9, 2021, a Piper Aircraft PA 28-140 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Houston, TX. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- December 9, 2021
- Place
- Houston, TX
- Aircraft
- Piper Aircraft PA 28-140 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 29.778°N, 95.673°W
- NTSB ID
- 20211209104379
Official records · CEN22FA067
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn December 8, 2021, about 1957 central standard time, a Piper PA 28-140 airplane, N3865K, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Houston, Texas. The student pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Radar and Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) data indicated that the airplane departed West Houston Airport (IWS) about 1955 and proceeded generally south-southwest. About 1.5 miles later, the track showed a slight descending left turn and the airplane’s groundspeed increased, after which the airplane entered a slightly tighter climbing right turn during which the groundspeed decreased. About 2.5 miles southwest of the departure end of the runway, the airplane made a tight left descending turn toward the northeast, followed immediately by a hard right descending turn back to the southwest. The airplane’s descent rate continued to increase until radar contact was lost about 700 ft above the ground. There were no witnesses to the accident. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONAccording to the student pilot’s flight instructor, the pilot had been receiving flight training for about a year. He had about 38 hours of flight experience, all of which was in a Cessna 172. The pilot had completed all solo requirements and had 4 hours of night flight experience, toward his private pilot certificate, but had not completed all of the required training in flight solely by reference to the instruments. Before the accident, the pilot had reached out to the flight inst
Probable cause
The student pilot’s decision to depart into night instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in spatial disorientation and a loss of airplane control.
More accidents in TX
- Kubicek BB85, Jul 30, 2016
- Robertson C-414, Jul 29, 1982
- Textron Aviation B-300, Jun 30, 2019
- Beech B100, Nov 26, 1983
- Consolidated-Vultee PBY-6A, Oct 13, 1984
Browse: Texas · 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.
