CHI92FA027 · Piper PA-24-180
Piper PA-24-180 · Accident: loss of engine power while maneuvering
From 4M4 · Clinton, AR to Cook Airfield (K50)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI92FA027
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-24-180
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-24
- 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
- N5935P
- Operator
- Gamache, Joseph C · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 4M4 · Clinton, ARTo Cook Airfield (K50), Derby, KS
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Fuel starvation; Stall
- 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 › Airspeed(vs), not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Coffeyville, KS, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT TOOK OFF WITH FULL FUEL TANKS AND FLEW FOR ABOUT 2 HOURS 15 MINUTES BEFORE THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED. THE AIRPLANE WAS OBSERVED NEAR THE ACCIDENT SITE, FLYING ERRATICALLY BENEATH A 300 TO 400 FOOT CEILING IN STRONG, GUSTY WIND CONDITIONS. WITNESSES REPORTED THE ENGINE SEEMED TO BE CUTTING IN AND OUT. THE AIRPLANE WAS NORTHBOUND WITH A 25 TO 40 KNOT TAILWIND WHEN IT WAS OBSERVED TO PITCH UP ABRUPTLY, ROTATE LEFT, AND NOSE DOWN INTO THE GROUND. POST-ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF AIRFRAME, POWERPLANT AND SYSTEMS REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF PRE-IMPACT FAILURE/DIFFICULTY. THE LEFT FUEL TANK WAS NEARLY FULL OF FUEL. THE RIGHT FUEL TANK WAS COMPROMISED AT IMPACT, HOWEVER THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF FUEL SPILLAGE AT THE ACCIDENT SITE. THE LANDING GEAR WAS EXTENDED, FUEL BOOST PUMP WAS ON, AND THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS JAMMED IN AN INTERMEDIATE POSITION. FUEL CONSUMPTION CALCULATIONS (USING 75%) INDICATED AS MUCH AS HALF THE AVAILABLE FUEL MAY HAVE BEEN BURNED.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT AIRSPEED (ABOVE STALL SPEED) DURING THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURE. RELATED FACTORS ARE THE PILOT'S POOR PLANNING/DECISION, INATTENTIVENESS, AND THE WEATHER (LOW CEILING, GUSTY TAILWINDS).
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI92FA027
- Event ID
- 20001212X18422
- Case number
- CHI92FA027
- 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: 39ad23a8f5346bad2665758b77d14e15dea1d7bb507b54ebb1cdd846c9d7a784; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:28:28.736Z.