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NYC86FA213 · Piper PA-46-310P

15 Aug 1986 · West Mifflin, PA, United States

Piper PA-46-310P · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route

From Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)

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Event

NTSB case
NYC86FA213
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
Visual Meteorological Cond

Piper PA-46-310P

Aircraft type
Piper PA-46
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
N27EE
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Pittsburgh, PATo Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Philadelphia, 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
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
Partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
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

  • Engine assembly › Failure, partial
  • Fluid, oil › Exhaustion
  • Lubricating system, oil tubing › Loose
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, poor

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

AT 2232 EDT, THE ACFT WAS CLIMBING TO 15000 FEET WHEN THE PILOT REPORTED A LOW OIL PRESSURE LIGHT. ATC ADVISED JIMMY STEWART FIELD IS ABOUT ELEVEN THIRTY AND 15 MILES. AFTER THE PILOT ASKED, 'IS THAT A TOWER FIELD?', ATC ADVISED HE DID NOT KNOW, WESTMORELAND COUNTY IS AT TWO O'CLOCK AND ABOUT 15 MILES, TURN RIGHT 180 DEGREES, DESCEND AND MAINTAIN 4000 FEET. AT 2233 EDT, ATC SAID THAT THEY BELIEVE WESTMORELAND COUNTY TOWER IS CLOSED DOWN. THE PILOT SAID THAT HE WAS THINKING OF WHERE HE SHOULD GO AND ATC ADVISED PITTSBURGH'S 35 MILES AWAY IF YOU CAN MAKE THAT. AT 2234:35 EDT, THE ACFT WAS RETURNING TO PITTSBURGH WHEN THE PILOT REPORTED ZERO OIL PRESSURE AND AN OIL LIGHT. AT 2237:27 EDT, THE PILOT REPORTED AN EMERGENCY. FLT WAS CLEARED TO ALLEGHENY CO ARPT & ADVISED MONROEVILLE ARPT 230 HDG & 5 MI. THE ACFT CRASHED AT 2247 EDT. THE INVESTIGATION SHOWED A LOOSE FLANGE NUT ON LEFT TURBO CHARGER FEED LINE FINGER TIGHT. TEST PRODUCED A STEADY LEAK. AT SITE OIL COVERED BOTTOM OF FUSELAGE AND EMPENNAGE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC86FA213
Event ID
20001213X34586
Case number
NYC86FA213
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1986-08-16.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: e4a53a1c3369737bca8b69312edd92da7c2412a39ef754917b48839d2b0d4892; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:26:29.946Z.