Piper PA-28-180 N8826J

Summary

On 19 November 2012 at about 23:24 local time, a Piper PA-28-180 registered N8826J, operated by Donald J. Derocher, was involved in an accident near Canton, Connecticut, United States. 2 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

19 November 2012 at 23:24

Classification

Accident

Location

Canton, Connecticut, United States

Nearest airport

Simsbury Airport (4B9)

Coordinates

41.8556, -72.8781

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-180

Registration

N8826J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Donald J. Derocher

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pottstown → Simsbury

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA13FA064

2 people died.

The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from terrain while performing a night visual approach to an airport. Contributing to the accident were the dark night and the pilot's lack of recent experience flying at night.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was flying to the destination airport at night on the second day of a long cross-country trip. Radar data showed that when the airplane was about 12 miles from the destination airport, it began to descend. The airplane eventually descended into trees and terrain about 6 miles from the destination airport, at an elevation nearly 400 feet below the airport's traffic pattern altitude, and 1,400 feet below the maximum elevation figure published for that area. A state police helicopter dispatched to search for the airplane following the accident reported that the terrain surrounding the accident site was "surprisingly" dark, and that some of the only nearby ground lighting came from a parking lot about 1 mile beyond the accident location and along the airplane’s course . According to the aeronautical information manual, lights along a straight path can easily be mistaken for runway lights at night. The pilot’s logbook indicated that he had flown 1 hour at night in the accident airplane in the preceding year. Given the pilot's lack of recent night flying experience, it is possible that he initiated the early descent because he had mistaken the nearby parking lot lights for those of the destination airport. Postaccident examination of the airplane showed no evidence of preaccident failure or malfunction that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.