ATL92FA019 · Piper PA-32R-301T PA-32R-301
Piper PA-32R-301T PA-32R-301 · Accident: loss of control in flight en route
From Knoxville Downtown Island Airport (DKX) to MO4 · Covington, TN
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL92FA019
- 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
- N3559J
- Operator
- Hanes, Roger E. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Knoxville Downtown Island Airport (DKX), Knoxville, TNTo MO4 · Covington, TN
- 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 · 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
- 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
- Flight control surfaces/attachments › Failure, total
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Design stress limits of aircraft, exceeded
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE FLYING AT A CRUISE ALTITUDE OF 600 FEET THE PILOT LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS. HE HAD NOT REPORTED EXPERIENCING A MECHANICAL PROBLEM NOR WERE ANY DISCOVERED DURING THE EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE AT THE ACCIDENT SITE. THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OBSERVED AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. THE POST MORTEM EXAMINATION OF THE PILOT FAILED TO DISCLOSE A MALADY WHICH WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THE PILOT FROM PERFORMING HIS NORMAL DUTIES. HOWEVER, THE AIRPLANE DESCENDED FROM THE ASSIGNED ALTITUDE AND WAS LAST OBSERVED AT 5600 FEET BEFORE DISAPPEARING OFF RADAR. WRECKAGE WAS SCATTERED OVER AN AREA ABOUT ONE MILE LONG IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF THE INTENDED FLIGHT PATH, THE LEFT WING FLAP ASSEMBLY AND ABOUT A TWO FOOT SECTION OF THE RIGHT HORIZONTAL STABILATOR TRIM TAB WERE NOT RECOVERED FOR EXAMINATION. THE LEFT WING FLAP ASSEMBLY SEPARATED FORM THE AIRFRAME AND WAS LOCATED ABOUT 1/2 MILE WEST OF THE MAIN WRECKAGE. COMPONENTS FROM THE EMPENNAGE SECTION WERE FOUND ABOUT ONE MILE FROM THE MAIN WRECKAGE.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE. THE PILOT EXCEEDED THE DESIGN LIMITS OF THE AIRFRAME.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL92FA019
- Event ID
- 20001212X18234
- Case number
- ATL92FA019
- 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: 24eef8c2540b787bf1c6998a97074388b489901d9c66225704fd4e93ed91f8e4; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:30:26.312Z.