Piper PA-32R-300 N333TG

Summary

On 31 May 2005 at about 21:45 local time, a Piper PA-32R-300 registered N333TG, operated by RAM Air Freight Inc, was involved in an accident near Fort Myers, Florida, United States. One person was 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

31 May 2005 at 21:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Fort Myers, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Fort Myers Lee (FMY)

Coordinates

26.5867, -81.8631

Aircraft

Piper PA-32R-300

Registration

N333TG

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

RAM Air Freight Inc

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Naples

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA05LA116

Nobody was injured.

Inadequate maintenance and repair of the engine top cowling by company maintenance personnel, resulting in failure and separation of the cowling in flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that no abnormalities were noted during a thorough preflight inspection or during the walk around. The takeoff roll and initial climb were uneventful, at about 300 feet above the ground, the top cowling of the engine separated and struck the right side of the windshield and the right side of the horizontal stabilator. The pilot returned to the airport and landed without further incident. The center portion of the top engine cowling was not recovered. The right portion of the top engine cowling separated in-flight but was recovered, and the left portion of the top engine cowling remained attached to its two latch points. Examination of the right portion of the cowling revealed that the forward latch was broken and separated in half. Both the forward and aft latches were bent, twisted aft, and canted aft. Examination of the left portion of the cowling revealed no apparent damage to the latches. The accident airplane had a previous incident on October 22, 2003, in which the top engine cowling separated during climb out and impacted the windshield. The airplane returned to the airport and landed without further incident also. Examination of the maintenance records revealed that following the incident in 2003, the top engine cowling was replaced by a cowling which had accumulated 11,800 flight hours at the time of the replacement. That cowling subsequently had actions performed to it, including two repairs of the fiberglass structure accomplished on July 7, 2004 and September 14, 2004. The latter of these repairs addressed a crack at the forward area of the top cowling.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.