MIA88FA195 · Piper PA-31-P
Piper PA-31-P · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From OPI · OPA LOCKA, FL to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA88FA195
- 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-31-P
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-31
- 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
- N560JB
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From OPI · OPA LOCKA, 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 · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Tree(s); Utility pole
- 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(cfi) › Airspeed, not maintained
- Pilot in command(cfi) › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Proper altitude, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE INSTRUCTOR (CFI), WHO SURVIVED, WAS FLYING THE ACFT FM THE RGT FNT SEAT WHILE THE OWNER/PLT WAS IN THE LEFT SEAT. THE FLT HAD PROGRESSED NORMALLY UNTIL THE PLTS RTRND TO THE ARPT TO LND. CLNC WAS RECEIVED TO LND ON RWY 9L. ACCORDING TO THE CFI, HE LOWERED THE LNDG GEAR, SELECTED 10 DEG OF FLAPS & NOTED HE NEEDED EXCESSIVE BACK PRESSURE ON THE CTL YOKETO KEEP THE ACFT FM DSCNDG. ALSO, HE STATED HE WAS UNABLE TO RELIEVE THE PRESSURE WITH ELEC OR MANUAL TRIM. HE ASKED THE PLT/OWNER TO USE HIS ELEC TRIM (ON THE LEFT YOKE), BUT THIS DID NOT HELP. THE CFI STATED HE RETRACTED THE FLAPS & INCREASED PWR, BUT THE ACFT CONTD TO SETTLE. SUBSEQUENTLY, IT HIT A TREE & A POLE, THEN IMPACTED THE GND & STRUCK A VEHICLE BEFORE STOPPING. A FIRE ERUPTED & ALL 3 OCCUPANTS WERE BURNED WHILE EVACUATING THE ACFT. THE PLT/OWNER DIED FM HIS INJURIES. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FND DRG THE INVESTIGATION. FLT TEST DATA CONCERNING THRUST- DRAG RATIO SHOWED THAT INDUCED DRAG INCREASES RAPIDLY BELOW 90 KTS. WITNESSES SAID THE ACFT WAS LOW/SLOW ON FINAL APCH.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA88FA195
- Event ID
- 20001213X26016
- Case number
- MIA88FA195
- 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: 739df6daa8afb223e3768a69f41aaafb2aeef7507aeb0cd059a5156d29f0c5bb; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:41:17.267Z.