Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee E, N1441T: Accident occurred July 05, 2013 in Blairstown, New Jersey

NTSB Identification: ERA13CA316  
 14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, July 05, 2013 in Blairstown, NJ
Aircraft: PIPER PA-28-140, registration: N1441T
Injuries: 2 Minor.

NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.

The pilot reported that he was departing an airport near a ridge. Everything was normal on takeoff; however, during climbout shortly after departure, the airplane descended as if it was in a strong downdraft and he could not maintain altitude. The passenger, who was a glider pilot, stated that he estimated the airplane was approximately 200 feet above the ground when the pilot reported that they were losing altitude. Witnesses at the airport stated that during takeoff roll, the airplane rotated nose-up about one-third to one-half down the 3,088-foot long runway. The airplane remained in that attitude down the entire runway, about 20 feet above the ground. The airplane pitched up further, just cleared trees off the departure end of the runway, then appeared to stall and descend behind the treeline. The airplane subsequently impacted the front yard of a residence off the departure end of the runway and came to rest upright. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that during the impact, all three landing gear separated. Additionally, the firewall and lower fuselage were substantially damaged. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the airplane and the inspector did not observe any. The recorded wind at an airport approximately 10 miles from the accident site, about 25 minutes after the accident, was variable at 5 knots. The recorded temperature at that time was 84 degrees F.


The National Transportation Safety Board is awaiting word from the Federal Aviation Administration's local office in Allentown before assigning federal investigators to two airplane crashes over the holiday weekend.

A plane went down July 4 at about 5 p.m. in a field near the Wells Fargo Bank at 1300 Uhler Road in Forks Township. Aliosman A. Bilukbash, who was the only one in the aircraft at the time, escaped without injury except for a lacerated finger, authorities said.

Charles Everett, executive director of Lehigh Valley International Airport, which runs the Braden Airpark where Bilukbash was attempting to land his  Beechcraft A23-19 Musketeer Sport, said the pilot overshot the runway and made a crash landing.

A Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee E crashed Friday morning shortly after taking off from Blairstown Township Airport. The plane came down at 65 Gwinnup Road in the township and neither Craig Levine, of Blue Bell, nor his passenger, Matthew Giannini, of Harleysville, were injured, authorities said.

Dennis Diaz, an air safety investigator with the Office of Aviation Safety Eastern Region in Virginia, said the NTSB is awaiting word from local FAA officials on both crashes. Because there were no major injuries in either incident, Diaz said the national agency must now wait to see if the damage caused in the crashes was substantial enough to warrant a full investigation from their office.

"If that's the case, we'll assign an investigator," Diaz said.

Jim Peters, spokesman with the FAA, said if the damage in a crash is below a federal threshold, then it's categorized as an "incident" and the FAA is in charge of the investigation. The crash will be upgraded to an "accident" and bumped up to the NTSB if the damage is substantial enough, Peters said.

He said the FAA will be doing the preliminary assessment work on both crashes this week.