Piper 24-140 N55492

Summary

On 25 July 1982 at about 05:20 local time, a Piper 24-140 registered N55492, operated by Bruce C. Sehofield, was involved in an accident near Enterprise, Oregon, United States. 3 people were on board and 3 died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

25 July 1982 at 05:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Enterprise, Oregon, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Piper 24-140

Registration

N55492

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Bruce C. Sehofield

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Joseph → Joseph

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

SEA82FYM22

3 people died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

WITNESSES OBSERVED AN AIRCRAFT FLY OVER THE CITY OF ENTERPRISE, OREGON ON A BRIGHT NIGHT WITH CLEAR SKY CONDITIONS. REPORTEDLY, THE AIRCRAFT WAS FLYING VERY ERRATIC; AND JUST AS IT DISAPPEARED FROM THE WITNESSES' SIGHT, AN EXPLOSION ANDFIREBALL WERE OBSERVED WHERE IT DISAPPEARED. ACCORDIMG TO ONE WITNESS, THE AIRCRAFT APPEARED TO MANEUVER UP AND THEN DROP DOWN BEFORE IT CRASHED. THE PLANE CRASHED ON DOWN SLOPING TERRAIN IN A NOSE LOW, RIGHT WING DOWN ATTITUDE. THE PLANE SLID ABOUT 100 FT DOWN HILL AND THE WRECKAGE WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE. THE PROPELLER SEPARATED DURING IMPACT AND SHOWED EVIDENCE OF POWER; IT WAS BADLY BENT AND HAD LARGE GOUGE MARKS ON THE TIPS. THE FLIGHT CONTROL CABLES WERE COMPLETE AND UNBROKEN TO THE TAIL AND WERE CONTINUOUS TO BOTH WINGS EXCEPT WHERE THE WINGS HAD SEPARATED. A TOXICOLOGICAL CHECK OF THE PILOT'S BLOOD REVEALED AN ALCOHOL LEVEL OF 0.449%. THE ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS ABOUT 3900 FT MSL.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.