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CHI86FA033 · Piper PA-28-161

28 Nov 1985 · Duluth, MN, United States

Thunderbird Aviation Piper PA-28-161 · Accident en route

From Crystal Airport (MIC) to Duluth International Airport (DLH)

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Event

NTSB case
CHI86FA033
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
3 · 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-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
N8082B
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Crystal Airport (MIC), Crystal, MNTo Duluth International Airport (DLH), Duluth, MN
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
Undetermined
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
Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)
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 › Remedial action, not performed
  • Pilot in command › Self-induced pressure
  • Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, performed

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

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT DEPARTED CRYSTAL LAKE FOR A FLIGHT TO VISIT RELATIVES FOR THANKSGIVING. HE DID NOT OBTAIN A PREFLIGHT WEATHER BRIEFING NOR DID HE CONTACT ANY GROUND FACILITY DURING THE FLIGHT. HE WAS QUALIFIED TO FLY IN VFR CONDITIONS ONLY. THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED THE SURFACE OF A FROZEN LAKE EIGHT MILES FROM DULUTH IAP AND WAS DESTROYED. AN EXAM- INATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED NOTHING THAT WOULD CAUSE AN INFLIGHT PROBLEM. WEATHER AT DULUTH IAP AT THE APPROX TIME OF THE CRASH WAS: EST 1000 FT OVERCAST, VISIBILITY 1 1/2 MILES WITH LIGHT SNOW AND FOG. WEATHER AT DULUTH 40 MIN BEFORE THIS OBSERVATION WAS: 200 FT CEILING, SKY OBSCURED. VISIBILITY 3/4 MILE WITH LIGHT SNOW AND FOG.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI86FA033
Event ID
20001214X38197
Case number
CHI86FA033
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: ab91fae5b3307367c25beb5f9125af3d1183f57c4ff0473b2f66476b34c1295a; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:45:11.354Z.