Piper PA-46-350P N280KC

Summary

On 23 March 2023 at about 20:44 local time, a Piper PA-46-350P registered N280KC was involved in an accident near St. Augustine, Florida, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 March 2023 at 20:44

Classification

Accident

Location

St. Augustine, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Northeast Florida Rgnl (SGJ)

Coordinates

29.9593, -81.3397

Aircraft

Piper PA-46-350P

Registration

N280KC

Category

Airplane

Year built

1999

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Saint Augustine → Marathon

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA23LA161

2 people were seriously injured.

The pilot's inadequate preflight planning, which resulted in a takeoff above the airplane’s maximum gross weight, a CG forward of the limit, and a tailwind component that prevented the airplane from climbing above trees.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that the airplane did not gain sufficient airspeed during the takeoff roll. He stated that, to avoid overrunning the runway onto a busy road he lifted the airplane off the runway when it reached rotation speed near the end of the runway. He was able to clear the highway, but the airplane contacted trees on the far side of the highway. The airplane descended to the ground and postimpact fire ensued. Witnesses who heard and saw the airplane taking off reported the engine sounded strong, as if it was running at full power. One witness observed the airplane pitch up into a steep nose-up attitude, climb to an estimated altitude of 100 ft, then start settling, barely clearing the streetlights along the side of a road. The airplane then began a slight roll to the left and struck trees. A large fireball erupted almost immediately upon impact with the trees. The climb and impact sequence were later verified by review of airport security camera video. The pilot contacted air traffic control (ATC) and requested to take off from a runway that was 2,700 ft in length, had an uphill gradient, and obstacles off the departure end. In addition, the pilot did not use the entire runway for the takeoff; instead, he initiated the takeoff with 2,301 ft of runway available. The requested runway also resulted in him departing with a tailwind component of about 3 knots, and an 11-knot crosswind component. The primary runway in use was 8,001 ft long and would have resulted in the airplane taking off downhill, with a headwind and no obstacles off the departure end. The runway selected by the pilot was closer to his hangar than the available longer runway. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any evidence of preimpact failure of the engine or airplane that would have precluded normal operation. As the postimpact fire consumed many of the items onboard, the investigation was unable to establish the actual weight of the items that were loaded onto the airplane. However, the weights of the recovered cargo, in addition to the weights of the occupants (the pilot, his wife, and their dog), and the fuel onboard, indicated that at a minimum the total weight was in excess of the airplane’s maximum takeoff weight by about 14 pounds and the center of gravity (CG) was outside of the forward limit of the operating envelope. Based on this information, it is most likely that the overweight condition and exceedance of the CG limitations resulted in performance degradation that prevented the pilot from gaining sufficient airspeed and altitude to clear the trees off the end of the runway. The performance degradation was compounded by the pilot’s runway selection, which resulted in a takeoff tailwind component and obstacles.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.