FTW92GA111 · Piper PA-32R-301T PA-32R-301
New Mexico Transportation Dept Piper PA-32R-301T PA-32R-301 · Accident: fire en route
From Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) to Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW92GA111
- 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-32R-301T PA-32R-301
- 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
- N8194X
- Operator
- New Mexico Transportation Dept
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ)To Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF), Santa Fe, NM
- 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 · climb to cruise
- 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
- Fire
- 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
- Fuel system, line › Failure, total
- Fuel system, line › Fatigue
- Fuel system, line › Vibration
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Albuquerque, NM, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRPLANE SUSTAINED AN IN-FLIGHT FIRE AND DURING THE FORCED LANDING IMPACTED THE TERRAIN NOSE LOW. ACCORDING TO ATC, THE PILOT DIVERTED TO AN ALTERNATE AIRPORT AFTER REPORTING SMOKE IN THE COCKPIT. ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE PILOT DID NOT SHUT DOWN THE ENGINE. WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THE AIRPLANE ENTERED A DOWNWIND PATTERN AND IMPACTED THE TERRAIN AFTER OVERSHOOTING THE RUNWAY DURING THE APPROACH. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE FUEL LINE TO THE NO. 5 CYLINDER HAD SEPARATED OVER TIME BY CYCLIC STRESSES THAT PROPAGATED A FATIGUE CRACK. THE MAINTENANCE INSTALLATION OF THE LINE HAD BEEN IMPROPERLY ROUTED AND THE LINE NOT CLAMPED. MANUFACTURER INFORMATION ON THE LINE ROUTING AND CLAMPS HAD NOT BEEN AVAILABLE IN THE SERVICE BULLETINS. THE EXHAUST PIPE EXHIBITED MECHANICAL ABRASION AND THERMAL OXIDATION PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT ALTHOUGH THE EXHAUST SYSTEM HAD UNDERGONE A RECENT MAINTENANCE CHECK. A 'B' NUT MISSING ON THE TOP SPARK PLUG FOR THE NO. 5 CYLINDER HAD BEEN SITUATED AT A LOCATION OF INTENSE HEAT DURING THE IN-FLIGHT FIRE. SURFACE CRACKS PENETRATING THE INSIDE SURFACE OF THE V-BAND COUPLING SECURING THE EXHAUST PIPE EXHIBITED SURFACE OXIDATION DAMAGE DETERMINED TO BE IN EXISTENCE FOR SOME TIME PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
FUEL LINE FAILURE DUE TO VIBRATORY FATIGUE. FACTORS WERE IMPROPER MAINTENANCE, MANUFACTURER INFORMATION FOR FUEL LINE NOT AVAILABLE, AND THE PILOTS' FAILURE TO FOLLOW EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW92GA111
- Event ID
- 20001211X14418
- Case number
- FTW92GA111
- 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: 1631afe7503b723a4af30ea48c217f0587bf18870d1d6fbfbc1ffe2dd47015fa; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:16:52.195Z.