Investigator In Charge (IIC): McCarter, Lawrence
The National Transportation Safety Board did not travel to the scene of this accident.
Additional Participating Entity:
Juan Garcia; Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Miramar, Florida
Location: Lake Worth, Florida
Accident Number: ERA23LA040
Date and Time: October 23, 2022, 16:10 Local
Registration: N39628
Aircraft: Piper PA-32RT-300T
Injuries: 1 Minor
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal
On October 23, 2022, about 1610 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32RT-300T, N39628, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Lake Worth, Florida. The commercial pilot sustained minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
According to the pilot, after an uneventful flight and landing at Palm Beach County Park Airport (LNA), West Palm Beach, Florida, the pilot purchased 10 gallons of aviation fuel for a total fuel load of 27 gallons for his next flight to Okeechobee County Airport (OBE), Okeechobee, Florida, about 55 nautical miles away. The pilot took off and climbed out normally. Shortly after retracting flaps and making a power adjustment, the engine started losing power. His attempt to regain power was unsuccessful; The pilot stated there was “no roughness” in the engine prior to or during the power loss. Unable to maintain level flight, and with an altitude of 300 ft above ground level, he was forced to land on a paved dead end road. During final approach, the airplane struck the top of trees. The airplane impacted the ground short of the road and skidded to a stop up against a guardrail.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector examined the wreckage and found that the fuselage was buckled and, the impact broke the left wing mid span and sheared off the right wingtip. The fuel tanks were compromised spilling fuel around the impact site. An initial examination of the engine did not reveal any preimpact anomalies.
The airplane was retained for further examination.
Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information
Aircraft Make: Piper
Registration: N39628
Model/Series: PA-32RT-300T
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Amateur Built:
Operator:
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None
Operator Designator Code:
Meteorological Information and Flight Plan
Conditions at Accident Site: VMC
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: LNA, 14 ft msl
Observation Time: 16:15 Local
Distance from Accident Site: 2 Nautical Miles
Temperature/Dew Point: 29°C /19°C
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: 13 knots / , 10°
Lowest Ceiling: None
Visibility: 10 miles
Altimeter Setting: 30.03 inches Hg
Type of Flight Plan Filed:
Departure Point: West Palm Beach, FL (LNA)
Destination: Okeechobee, FL (OBE)
Wreckage and Impact Information
Crew Injuries: 1 Minor
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries:
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 1 Minor
Latitude, Longitude: 26.593056,-80.085065 (est)
The aircraft went down near Tim Granowitz Pavilion just after 4 p.m.
It appeared that the plane knocked down some tree branches and part of a fence before finally skidding on a road.
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said the pilot, who was the only person aboard the plane, is expected to survive.
There are no reports that anyone on the ground was injured.
It's unclear what caused the plane to go down.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.
N39628, PA-32RT-300T
ReplyDeleteTrack:
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a49bd2&lat=26.600&lon=-80.086&zoom=14.1&showTrace=2022-10-23&leg=2&trackLabels
Tim Granowitz Pavilion Locator:
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=loc:26.60619+-80.08224
I had scanned the Unicom for KLNA, he never even keyed the mic. so it happened quick.
ReplyDeletehttps://flightaware.com/live/flight/map/N39628/history/20221023/2038Z/KLNA/KLNA
For anyone interested, the first post resulted from replaying the local ADS-B traffic, which is a feature available in Adsbexchange that works well for locations having good signal capture and when there is an accurate time hack from a news report.
ReplyDeleteThe URL format for replay is easy to edit and re-utilize, controls are simple, just remember to hit pause when the page opens so that the default speed of 30x can be reduced to something reasonable, like < 5X. Copying from the example below, you can use the "jump to airport" control to get to a new lat & lon location of interest after editing for new date and Z time.
This accident's aircraft showed up after 4:08 PM = 16:08 EDT / 20:08Z:
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?replay=2022-10-23-20:08&lat=26.600&lon=-80.080&zoom=13.8