ATL86FA240 · Piper PA-28-161
Piper PA-28-161 · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From Beverly, MA to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL86FA240
- 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-28-161
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N8285C
- Operator
- New England Flyers
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Beverly, MATo 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
- 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
- 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
- Wire, transmission
- 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 › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Impairment(alcohol)
- Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
- Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Hampton, NH, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT WAS FLYING AT LOW ALT IN THE VICINITY OF INTERSTATE I-95 WHEN THE PLT MADE A 360 DEG, RGT TURN. AFTER THE TURN, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH PWR LINES, WHICH CROSSED I-95, THEN CRASHED & BURNED. A WITNESS ESTIMATED THE ACFT HAD DSCNDD TO ABOUT 35 TO 50 FT AGL BFR HITTING THE PWR LINES. AN EXAM OF THE ACFT & ENG REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF A PREIMPACTMECHANICAL PROBLEM. THE PLT WAS FLYING THE ACFT FROM THE RGT SEAT. THE OUTBOARD (MALE) PORTION OF THE RGT SEAT BELT WAS FND CONNECTED TO THE INBOARD (FEMALE) PORTION OF THE LEFT SEAT BELT. LIKEWISE, THE OUTBOARD (MALE) PORTION OF THE LEFT SEAT BELT WAS FND CONNECTED TO THE INBOARD (FEMALE) PORTION OF THE RGT SEAT BELT; HOWEVER, THE INBOARD PORTION OF THE RGT SEAT BELT WAS NOT ANCHORED TO THE AIRFRAME. THE PASSENGERS (PAX) IN THE LEFT FRONT & LEFT REAR SEATS WERE FATALLY INJURED. A POSTMORTEM EXAM OF THE FATAL PAX FAILED TO DISCLOSE INJURIES COMMENSURATE WITH THE USE OF RESTRAINT SYSTEMS. A TOXICOLOGY CHECK SHOWED THE PLT HAD A BLOOD/ALCOHOL LVL OF 0.155%.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL86FA240
- Event ID
- 20001213X34691
- Case number
- ATL86FA240
- 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: 67fdd8962b2b0d4f431afdd2f246755a31a93a217706a3cb8e440f29dc4b8755; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:24:48.976Z.