Piper PA-32R-301T N8341G

Summary

On 26 September 2007 at about 14:33 local time, a Piper PA-32R-301T registered N8341G, operated by Paul E. Harris, was involved in an accident near Defiance, Ohio, 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

26 September 2007 at 14:33

Classification

Accident

Location

Defiance, Ohio, United States

Coordinates

41.2619, -84.4747

Aircraft

Piper PA-32R-301T

Registration

N8341G

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Paul E. Harris

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Grayslake → Findlay

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI07FA305

1 person died.

The pilot's spatial disorientation when he encountered convective turbulence which resulted in a loss of control. This encounter resulted in an in-flight break up. Contributing to the accident was the convective turbulence in the clouds.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was in cruise flight about 7,000 feet mean sea level (msl). At 1032:27, air traffic control (ATC) instructed the pilot to descend from 7,000 feet to 3,000 feet msl, and the pilot acknowledged the descent instructions. ATC's last radar contact with the airplane was at 1032:53, and the airplane's altitude was about 6,500 feet msl. The pilot made no distress call and he did not indicate that the airplane was experiencing any mechanical difficulty. Witnesses reported hearing the airplane when it was in the clouds for about a minute with the sound of the engine getting louder and louder. When it descended out of the clouds, the airplane was in about a 45-degree nose down attitude and spinning rapidly. The oscillating engine noise grew increasingly louder as it descended, and it appeared that the airplane was missing part of one of its wings. The airplane suddenly nosed straight down and impacted the ground in a steep, nose down attitude. The left wing's fracture surfaces were consistent with an overstress fracture. The inspection of the airplane revealed no deficiencies that would have precluded normal operation. Weather radar depicted a narrow line of echoes in the vicinity of the accident site. A band of cumulus clouds was over or in the immediate vicinity of the accident site at the time of the accident with cumulonimbus type clouds to the west and southwest of the accident site. The weather radar spectrum width depicted an area of shear between 12 to 24 knots along the last known position of the accident airplane and the accident site. It indicated significant wind velocities and turbulence along the flight track.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.