Piper PA-24-250 N8051P

Summary

On 15 January 2025 at about 22:30 local time, a Piper PA-24-250 registered N8051P was involved in an accident near Tyler, Texas, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause has been published yet; this accident is still under investigation.

Date

15 January 2025 at 22:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Tyler, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Tyler Pounds Rgnl (TYR)

Coordinates

32.3535, -95.4030

Aircraft

Piper PA-24-250

Registration

N8051P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Fort Worth

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN25LA079

Nobody was injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. The investigation is still open; a final report usually follows one to two years after the accident.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

On January 15, 2025, about 1630 central standard time, a Piper PA-25-250 airplane, N8051P was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Tyler, Texas. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that just before the accident flight, the airplane’s battery was not charged, and the airplane was connected to a truck using jumper cables to start the engine. The airplane proceeded to take off from runway 04 at the Tyler Pounds Regional Airport (TYR) and was cleared for a left turn from the airport. As the pilot began the turn, he noticed sparking and smoke emanating from the instrument panel and the cabin began to fill with smoke. He turned off the generator switch and the sparking and smoke subsided, and he turned back toward TYR. At this time, the aircraft radios were not operating, and the pilot switched the generator back on so that he could communicate with air traffic control. The sparking and smoke started again, and he again turned off the generator. He maneuvered the airplane for runway 04 and when he was on a base leg of the traffic pattern, he turned on the generator to lower the airplane’s landing gear. He believed the landing gear was down and locked and turned the generator off again and continued the landing. During the landing, the airplane’s landing gear collapsed and resulted in substantial damage to the airplane’s lower fuselage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.