Piper PA-24-250 N7304P

Summary

On 23 December 1995 at about 20:45 local time, a Piper PA-24-250 registered N7304P was involved in an accident near Death Valley, California, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 December 1995 at 20:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Death Valley, California, United States

Coordinates

36.6006, -116.8304

Aircraft

Piper PA-24-250

Registration

N7304P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Nervino → Lake Havasu

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX96FA249

1 person died.

the non-instrument rated pilot's intentional VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument rated pilot departed northern California on December 23, 1995, on a cross-country flight to Arizona. He did not file a flight plan. He failed to arrive and a search was initiated without success. On June 27, 1996, microwave technicians spotted the wreckage en route to an antenna site. The aircraft collided with the crest of a ridge line in a near level cruise flight attitude. The emergency locator beacon had been destroyed by impact and postcrash fire damage. A resort in the area had been called during the initial search to see if the pilot landed there as he had in the past. Resort personnel reported that there had been no aircraft traffic that day due to low clouds, rain, and snow showers. The wreckage was located about 16 miles from the resort.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.