Piper PA-24-260 N8553P

Summary

On 1 April 1988 at about 14:52 local time, a Piper PA-24-260 registered N8553P, operated by Jeffery W. Pierce, was involved in an accident near Henrietta, Texas, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

1 April 1988 at 14:52

Classification

Accident

Location

Henrietta, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Pierce (NONE)

Coordinates

33.8096, -98.1892

Aircraft

Piper PA-24-260

Registration

N8553P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Jeffery W. Pierce

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Deming

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW88FA085

2 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

THE PLT WAS GIVEN A PRE-FLT WX BRIEFING BY A FSS BRIEFER. HE RCVD A FULL & THOROUGH BRIEFING, EXCEPT THE BRIEFER DID NOT HAVE AN OPNL WX RADAR SET AVAILABLE. THE PLT WAS ADZD OF A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS (TSTMS) TO THE SOUTHWEST, MOVING EAST AT 20 KTS. HE WAS ALSO GIVEN A PIREP CONCERNING A TSTM 20 MI SOUTH OF WICHITA FALLS (SW OF HENRIETTA), RPRTDLY MOVING NORTH. WITNESSES SAID THE ACFT TOOK OFF DOWNWIND, HAD DIFFICULTY GETTING AIRBORNE, THEN MADE AN ABRUPT RGT TURN INTO A LOW CEILING. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, A WITNESS SAW IT COME OUT OF THE CLOUDS & CRASH APRX 1-1/2 MI SOUTHEAST OF THE ARPT. IMPACT OCCURRED IN A STEEP LEFT WING DOWN, SLIGHTLY NOSE LOW, ATTITUDE. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE/MALFUNCTION WAS FND. A WITNESS SAID THAT JUST BFR TAKEOFF, THERE WAS A HVY DOWNPOUR OF RAIN WITH SMALL HAIL, LIGHTNING & THUNDER. THERE WERE INDCNS THE PLT WAS HURRYING TO DEPART BFR A CLNC VOID TIME OF 0900 CST. HE TOOK OFF ABT 8 MIN BFR THE VOID TIME. ACCORDING TO SPECS, THE ATTITUDE INDICATOR WOULD HAVE NEEDED A 3 MIN SPIN-UP TIME TO ACHIEVE ITS RATED PERFORMANCE.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.