Piper PA32 N3869W

Summary

On 3 June 2020 at about 19:00 local time, a Piper PA32 registered N3869W was involved in an accident near Fargo, North Dakota, United States. 3 people were 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

3 June 2020 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Fargo, North Dakota, United States

Nearest airport

Hector Intl (FAR)

Coordinates

46.9206, -96.8158

Aircraft

Piper PA32

Registration

N3869W

Category

Airplane

Year built

1966

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fargo → Park Rapids

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN20LA208

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the engine driven fuel pump which led to a fuel leak and subsequent fire in the engine compartment.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor attempted to start the airplane for the instructional flight when the engine started and began to sputter a few seconds later. He moved the mixture control forward, but the engine quit. The instructor then saw black smoke emanating from the engine cowl. He continued cranking the engine in an attempt to draw the fire into the engine. The fire continued so the flight instructor ordered an evacuation of the airplane. The subsequent fire substantially damaged the engine compartment. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed the highest intensity heat and fire was near the engine driven fuel pump. The fuel pump subsequently leaked when it was pressurized with fuel. It is likely the failure of the engine-driven pump allowed fuel to exit and become exposed to the hot engine, which caused the fire.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.