MIA94FA098 · Piper PA-28R-200
Piper PA-28R-200 · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
From Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA94FA098
- 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
- 4 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-28R-200
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N55999
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), DAYTONA BEACH, FLTo not recorded
- 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
- Approach · IFR missed approach
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Sarasota, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
During IFR arrival, the flight was cleared for an ILS Runway 32 Approach. The pilot(s) acknowledged the clearance & initiated the approach. Radio transmissions from the airplane became unreadable as the approach was continued. Radar data showed that on final approach, the airplane deviated laterally (S-turned) through the final approach course (as if the pilot was overcorrecting). At about 400' MSL & 1 mile from the runway, the flight deviated to the left & began a non-standard missed approach. An alternate IFR missed approach procedure was issued & the pilot(s) acknowledged by clicking the mike button; however, the alternate missed approach instruction was not followed. Radar data showed the airplane flew a southerly course for about 2-1/2 miles, then it began turning & radar contact was lost. Witnesses saw the airplane descending through fog in a steep, nose down, right bank attitude before disappearing from view. Engine rpm was heard to increase, then the plane crashed in a boat docking area. The left seat pilot had been issued a private pilot certificate based on his German certificate; he held an instrument rating, but did not have a current medical certificate; no record was found of his previous flight time. The right seat pilot held a commercial & ATP certificate (with instrument rating) & was presumed to be the PIC; a review of his log book revealed the last recorded flight in this make & model of airplane was on 3/27/88.
Probable cause
Failure of the pilot(s) to maintain control of the airplane due to spatial disorientation. Factors related to the accident were: A malfunction that resulted in a loss of normal radio transmission, and the pilot(s) lack of recent experience in this make and model of airplane.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA94FA098
- Event ID
- 20001206X00947
- Case number
- MIA94FA098
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1994-03-21.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 980283e44d38dc4b5dec1045e9fb11adaf28f1404bb3395b7e64b7e0a1105064; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:12:44.754Z.