Piper PA-34-220T N8417A

Summary

On 23 December 1999 at about 18:10 local time, a Piper PA-34-220T registered N8417A was involved in an accident near Alexandria, Minnesota, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 December 1999 at 18:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Alexandria, Minnesota, United States

Nearest airport

Chandler Field (AXN)

Coordinates

45.8651, -95.3905

Aircraft

Piper PA-34-220T

Registration

N8417A

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ft Collins → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI00LA053

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's inadequate inflight decision to continue flight into icing conditions. An additional cause was the directional control not maintained by the pilot. Contributing factors were the viewable area of the aircraft's heated windshield panel, in-flight icing conditions, the snow covered runway, haze, runway edge lights and the runway sign.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During landing rollout, the airplane veered off the snow-covered runway and impacted runway lights and a sign. The airplane's windshield had an 1/8-1/4 inch of ice accumulation. The pilot was issued a Center Weather Advisory (CWA) while en route to the destination airport. The CWA reported patchy severe mixed icing in clouds and precipitation with a chance of severe clear icing. The left and right side pilot windshields of a standard PA-34 were found to have rectangular areas of approximately 23 inches by 32 inches. The heated windshield plate area was approximately 3-1/2 inches by 7-1/2 inches.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.