Piper PA28 accident near Suffolk, VA
On January 7, 2023, a Piper PA28 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Suffolk, VA. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- January 7, 2023
- Place
- Suffolk, VA
- Aircraft
- Piper PA28 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 36.602°N, 76.598°W
- NTSB ID
- 20230108106549
Official records · ERA23FA103
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
Air traffic control records
- Ctaf Recording Excerpt (31 Seconds, 500k, Wav Format): Audio recording (WAV), on ntsb.gov
- Correspondence Regarding Ctaf Recording: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn January 7, 2023, about 1213 eastern standard time, a Piper PA-28-140, N592FL, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Suffolk, Virginia. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot owned the airplane and based it at the departure airport, Northeast Regional Airport (EDE), Edenton, North Carolina. According to a mechanic at EDE, the pilot and he were friends and the pilot contacted him on January 1, 2023, to inform him that the engine rpm drop was excessive during a magneto check and that he had parked the airplane on the ramp in front of the mechanic’s hangar for further evaluation. The mechanic looked at the airplane on January 4th, 2023. He removed the spark plugs, cleaned them, and checked them for resistance. He found that two spark plugs had very high resistance and one spark plug fired a little weak, so he replaced the three affected spark plugs and reinstalled the five other spark plugs in the engine. The pilot arrived later that day, before the mechanic had a chance to perform an engine run as he was busy working on another airplane. The pilot asked if he could perform an engine run on the ramp and the mechanic said yes, because he could listen to the engine from his hangar. As soon as the pilot ran the engine, the mechanic knew “right away” that the new spark plugs did not correct the problem as the engine was “skipping.” The pilot shut down the engine and the mechanic informed the pilot that the airplane was not to be flown un
Probable cause
The pilot’s decision to fly the airplane without confirming it had been released from maintenance, which resulted in a partial loss of engine power due to loose magnetos. Contributing to the outcome was the pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed and his exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.
More accidents in VA
- Boeing 757-200, Sep 11, 2001
- Beech B99, Sep 23, 1985
- Beech 65, Sep 10, 1995
- Beech 200, Oct 24, 2004
- Piper PA-31-310, Nov 14, 1982
Browse: Virginia · 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.
