ATL84FA107 · Piper PA-23
Piper PA-23 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO) to Nashville International Airport (BNA)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL84FA107
- 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-23
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-23
- 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
- N2160P
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO), Charlottesville, VATo Nashville International Airport (BNA), Nashville, TN
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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 contamination; Tree(s)
- 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 › Emergency procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Propeller feathering, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE CRUISING ON AN IFR FLT AT 10,000 FT, THE PLT INFORMED ATLANTA CENTER THAT HE HAD AN ENG PROBLEM & WAS DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. HE WAS PROVIDED A HEADING TO THE BLUEFIELD ARPT WHICH WAS NEARBY. WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE PROBLEM, HE SAID THE LEFT ENG WAS PROVIDING ONLY PARTIAL POWER. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE PASSENGER (HIS WIFE) SAW A BREAK IN THE CLOUDS & THE PLT SAID HE WOULD CIRCLE & TRY TO GET DOWN. HE WAS INFORMED THAT THE HIGHEST OBSTACLE IN THE AREA WAS AT 3800 FT. HE REPORTED GOOD GROUND CONTACT, BUT SAID HE STILL COULD NOT SEE THE ARPT. RADAR CONTACT WAS LOST AT LOW ALT, BUT THE PLT FLEW TO THE BLUEFIELD VOR, ABOUT 1/2 MI FROM THE ARPT. HE THEN ENTERED A TURN AWAY FROM THE ARPT, & SHORTLY AFTER THAT, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES ON HILLY TERRAIN. THE SURFACE TEMP WAS 30 DEG. ICY SLUSH WAS FOUND IN THE LEFT GASCOLATOR. THE FUEL SELECTORS WERE FOUND IN THE 'AUX' POSITIONS. NO PREIMPACT MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE WAS FOUND. THE BLADES OF THE LEFT PROP WERE FOUND IN A FLAT ANGLE (NOT FEATHERED) & BENT AFT WITH LITTLE ROTATIONAL DAMAGE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL84FA107
- Event ID
- 20001214X38700
- Case number
- ATL84FA107
- 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: 87ef44935a769ba2b8ef83dce187d8d21fc0809462d2cdf6aace3d75561c314e; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:38:33.187Z.