Thursday, September 29, 2022

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee B, N7329F: Fatal accident occurred September 28, 2022 in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Allentown, Pennsylvania

Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances in a residential yard and caught on fire. 

ProFlite Aero LLC


Date: 28-SEP-22
Time: 14:57:00Z
Regis#: N7329F
Aircraft Make: PIPER
Aircraft Model: PA28
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 1
Flight Crew: 1 Fatal 
Pax: 1 Serious Injuries
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: SUBSTANTIAL
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: UNKNOWN (UNK)
Operation: 91
City: ALLENTOWN
State: PENNSYLVANIA

Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation may contact them by email witness@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov. You can also call the NTSB Response Operations Center at 844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290.





SALISBURY TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania - The Lehigh County coroner says dental records are needed to identify the victim of Wednesday's plane crash, as the plane exploded with the man inside.

A second person did survive thanks to the quick actions of Ron Diehl, who was doing renovation at the home where the plane crashed.

"He says get my student. I said holy crap there is somebody else in there," Diehl said.

Moments after, Diehl pulled the man out of the cockpit. This, after the Piper PA-28 crashed in front of him, exploding shortly after.

Diehl says he saw a foot amongst the wreckage, grabbed it, and pulled.

"The wing was sticking up in the air. The wing's coming down, it's like literally going to fall right on me and him. I don't know what happened, but I just dove with him and it landed next to me on fire and when that hit then the fire really took off," he said.

There was nothing more the 47-year-old could do, as he said the cockpit looked like a furnace.

He says he was at the Salisbury Township home doing renovation work when the plane came down nearly on top of him.

"I could see the guy's sunglasses in the windshield. I'm not kidding. I just dove out of the way and as I turned around it struck a tree, and just burst into flames. Pieces went flying," he said.

The plane is registered to Pro Flight Aero Services, a flight training school, with a lease at Queen City. It had taken off from the airport before crashing.

The coroner says dental records are needed to ID the victim. The man Diehl saved was taken to the hospital.

Diehl says there was never a moment when he didn't think of his 3-year-old twins and doesn't consider himself a hero, but he certainly saved a life.

"If myself or a loved one was in that situation I would hope someone would try. All you can do is try," he said.

Diehl says when he pulled the man from the plane he was covered in black soot or a similar material.

An autopsy for the victim is set for Friday.

The National Transportation Safety Board says a preliminary report is expected in two to three weeks, which will give some facts and circumstances of what led to the crash. A full report is expected in one to two years.

21 comments:

  1. The student was the fatality, the CFI is badly injured in the hospital

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  2. Appears there was a steady north wind at altitude, maybe 20 mph from N - NE.
    https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N7329F/history/20220924/1718Z/22N/KXLL

    Check out the flight prior from N43 to 22N if you want to see what looks like Commercial pilot work on turns and slow turns, the rapid g/s changes with constant altitude in the turns indicates a brisk north wind.

    The flight 22N to KXLL the airport comes too quickly and then the pilot attempts steep turn from a base to final and gets an accelerated stall and quick spin to the ground. Bottom line, Not a stabilized approach with turn to final started too close to the airfield.

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    1. what? They had just taken off on runway 25. Never got high enough for the ADS-B to track them

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    2. 22N to KXLL flight was on Saturday 9/24

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    3. My father did pattern work at Queen City Municipal Airport. He told me he had wind issues from the ridge, the south side of the field. It's quite possible the wind overtook, and already low and slow could not counter it.

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    4. Thats the wrong flight, wrong day.

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  3. I've flown in and out of KXLL (Queen City, Allentown, PA) many times. My guess would be that they experienced an engine failure soon after takeoff and were trying to glide to the golf course which is just a little farther from where they came down.

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  4. Interesting, the 1968 PIPER PA-28-140 really didn't fit ProFlite Aero Services website image as an "aviation company that is committed to safe and affordable flight training services. We specialize in a wide spectrum of areas including Discovery Flights, Flight Training in Airplanes, Aircraft Management, Consulting Services, Rentals."

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    1. I noticed the website not really matching the aircraft used, too. Some interior shots of the plane in question, but others shown also. It certainly didn't make clear that your training would be in a 50 plus year old aircraft.
      It is important to be aware, though, that the crash aircraft is very close to a new pa-28, airframe and engine wise. Slightly different wing and carburetor-vs-fuel injection being the big differences, if avionics are upgraded.
      Same or not, a 50 year old aircraft has 50 years behind it. Which is significant...there are things that are never really "maintained", no matter what the operator or A/P tells you. Crawl around in an old aircraft and handle/bend the wiring, for example...it will be stiff and Crack, and is almost universally ignored. Also, since a few pa28 wings have departed, there is that.... (no, I am not saying that a fatigued wing spar or old wiring caused this!)...
      I have worked for some charter companies whose websites show stock photos of A/C that they don't use, and always thought it was shady.
      There are some comments about the noise abatement procedure for Rwy 25.. I think it is voluntary, and this crew may have had more to worry about than complying with that.

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  5. I fly regularly from xll and live in the neighborhood were they crashed. They seem like they didn't follow the noise abatement procedure. After take off you need to make a right turn over the 78 highway, but instead it seemed like they flew runway heading. They also had a field behind the house where they crashed . I am suspecting stall spin was the cause of this horrible accident. Prayers to the family of the student pilot. This is such a tragic loss.

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  6. Another CFI stall/Spin. There have been about 10 serious accidents in the NJ PA area this year with about 4 CFI's fatal or serious injured. I used to teach in NJ in the 1990's. What is happening there ?

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    1. Cant be sure until the pilot's name is released. The high rate of CFI incidents occurring this year have had a trend of new CFI's less than 24 months (and many less than 12 months).

      Victim's name was Keith Kozel, any word on the pilot?

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  7. Stall spin as usual. When will they learn?

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  8. You will be seeing Airline Cockpits with low time Capt's and FO's flying together, when I was on the widebody, usually 90 to a 100 years of airline exp. among the 3 Pilots.

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  9. Has anyone identified the Pilot/CFI ?

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  10. I've flown out of XLL since about 2006 and have had many hours on PA-28s. As another commented, based solely on crash location, they might not have flown the departure procedure, which is a right turn to track the major highway. This avoids the hospital if I recall. Though complete speculation with data on hand, an engine issue shortly after takeoff seems likely. Additionally, from listening to all the surrounding radio recordings, there might have been a helicopter in the immediate area performing unusual patterns. It did not register with any of the local known hospital life flight helos, at least that I could find. Something plausibly prudent to include in the investigation.

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  11. https://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-salisbury-township-fatal-plane-crash-20221012-qhznompdgje7dbsjnmiacvfg5m-story.html

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  12. Was the CFI/Pilots identity ever released or determined?

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