Piper PA-28-140 N6685J

Summary

On 25 August 1999 at about 15:26 local time, a Piper PA-28-140 registered N6685J was involved in an accident near Jackson, Alabama, United States. 4 people were on board and 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

25 August 1999 at 15:26

Classification

Accident

Location

Jackson, Alabama, United States

Nearest airport

William Stewart (4R3)

Coordinates

31.5307, -87.8903

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-140

Registration

N6685J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Baton Rouge

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA99LA238

2 people had minor injuries.

the pilot's inadequate preflight planning and preparation, which resulted in taking off with the airplane's maximum gross weight exceeded, and subsequent impact with trees. Factors in this accident were high temperatures and an in-flight encounter with a downdraft.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot he calculated the weight for this flight and came up with total weight of '...860 pounds, 5.5 pound over weight limit.' He said he '...did a complete check off on everything in the cockpit, and a static run-up only produced 2400 RPM's instead of 2500 RPM's the engine usually produced.' He rotated the airplane at 80 mph, it climbed to about 100 to 150 feet and entered 'some turbulence, at this time it felt like something was pushing the airplane to the ground...[he] decided the airplane was not going to climb over the trees and started turning off the fuel selector switch, the master switch, and we went into the trees.' According to the FAA inspector's statement, the airplane was at '...max gross weight at takeoff and encountered a down draft.' The stall warning light came on, the pilot lowered the nose to prevent a stall, the airplane was unable to maintain altitude and hit trees at end of runway. The reported temperature in the area about the time of the accident was about 90 degrees F. The wind were variable at 4 knots. The calculated density altitude was 2332 feet.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.