Piper PA-32-260 N5569J

Summary

On 9 August 2001 at about 16:15 local time, a Piper PA-32-260 registered N5569J was involved in an accident near Key West, Florida, United States. 3 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 August 2001 at 16:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Key West, Florida, United States

Coordinates

24.5494, -81.7794

Aircraft

Piper PA-32-260

Registration

N5569J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Key 'West → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA01LA212

2 people died.

The inadvertent disabling of the throttle in the idle position during a cockpit disturbance created when an armed hijacker forcibly attempted to cause the aircraft to fly to Cuba, resulting in a loss of controllability of power for sustainable flight and an emergency descent and ditching.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, the flight was planned as a commercial sight-seeing flight in the Key West vicinity. The customers were an elderly Hispanic couple who spoke little English. Upon reaching cruising altitude, the male passenger left his seat, encroached into the cockpit, produced a knife, turned the radios and transponder off, and demanded to be flown to Cuba. In an attempt to thwart the hijacking, the pilot pitched over to produce negative "g" to disable the hijacker, and headed back to Key West. In the ensuing struggle, the hijacker fell against and bent the retarded throttle. Attempts to straighten the throttle shaft snapped it off, and an idle power ditching was conducted. At water impact, forward motion stopped violently, and the lap-belted passengers appeared to lose consciousness. The pilot egressed from the right cockpit door, inflated his life vest, and swam to the passenger door to extricate the passengers, but the aircraft started sinking before he could get the door open. The passengers went down with the aircraft, and the pilot was rescued by a U. S. Navy helicopter. Neither aircraft nor passengers have been recovered to date.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.