BFO96FA010 · Piper PA-28-140
Piper PA-28-140 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Perkiomen Valley Airport (N10) to Roadcap Airport (37PA)
Event
- NTSB case
- BFO96FA010
- 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
- 1 · 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-28-140
- 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
- N6360W
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Perkiomen Valley Airport (N10), Collegeville, PATo Roadcap Airport (37PA), SMOKETOWN, PA
- 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 · VFR pattern turn to base
- 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 object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Wire, transmission
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Other crewmember › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that he was practicing simulated instrument flight with a safety pilot, when the airplane struck high tension power lines about 2.5 miles east of the destination airport. He stated that he was wearing foggles, and the safety pilot was present to provide guidance to the runway. The pilot stated that he had flown simulated IFR approaches with the safety pilot on other occasions, and found the safety pilot helpful. Also, the pilot noted that the safety pilot was less helpful during the accident flight than his previous experiences had led him to expect. The pilot stated that, although he was unsure of his position in the pattern, he continued his descent, until he heard '...a shrill whine... .' as the airplane contacted the power line cables. Just before impact, the safety pilot took over the flight controls and initiated evasive action, but to no avail. After collided with the power lines, the airplane fell to the ground. During postaccident examination at the accident site, pieces of 9 gauge steel wire were found in the engine compartment. The pilot reported that there was no preimpact mechanical malfunction. Pathological and toxicological examination of the safety pilot reflected no evidence of a preimpact incapacitating problem.
Probable cause
the pilot's (PIC's) improper in-flight planning/decision concerning simulated instrument flight during the traffic pattern/descent; and failure of the safety pilot (other crewmember) to provide adequate visual lookout to see-and-avoid the obstruction.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record BFO96FA010
- Event ID
- 20001207X04640
- Case number
- BFO96FA010
- 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: 85202e20faa57ee78637a9621fd386d27d6129848a352f9bdbca0c6478c94c47; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:33:57.298Z.