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MIA94FA067 · Piper PA-32RT-300 PA-32RT-30

6 Feb 1994 · SUGARLOAF KEY, FL, United States

Piper PA-32RT-300 PA-32RT-30 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water en route

From Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport (CRG) to Key West International Airport (EYW)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA94FA067
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
2 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Piper PA-32RT-300 PA-32RT-30

Aircraft type
Piper PA-32
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N626CN
Operator
Tibor, Kelly T. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport (CRG), Jacksonville, FLTo Key West International Airport (EYW), Key West, FL
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
En route · descent
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
In flight collision with terrain/water
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Altitude, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, not performed

Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.

NTSB narrative

THE PRIVATE PILOT WAS LAST OBSERVED ON RADAR DESCENDING AT A NORMAL RATE, OVER WATER, ON A DARK NIGHT FOR LANDING AT AN ISLAND AIRPORT. THE WRECKAGE WAS LOCATED THE NEXT DAY IN ABOUT 20 FEET OF WATER. EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED NO MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE OF ANY COMPONENTS OF THE AIRPLANE NECESSARY FOR FLIGHT.

Probable cause

WAS THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO PERFORM A VISUAL LOOKOUT AND MAINTAIN HIS ALTITUDE. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE DARK NIGHT, OVER WATER, VISUAL DESCENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA94FA067
Event ID
20001206X00792
Case number
MIA94FA067
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: af2dfca378f702e99d4c021bc4219eb412ee86e4a62938357b180065bf781e55; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:15:20.403Z.