NYC84LA281 · Piper PA-28-180
Piper PA-28-180 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to 1W2 · White Marsh, MD
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC84LA281
- 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
- 0 · 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-28-180
- 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
- N44325
- Operator
- Sasscer, Bernard J. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), NEW YORK, NYTo 1W2 · White Marsh, MD
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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 › In-flight planning/decision, poor
- Pilot in command › Lack of total experience
- Pilot in command › Maneuver, attempted
- Pilot in command › Powerplant controls, improper use of
- Pilot in command › Proper descent rate, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT WAS DESCENDED FOR APRX 7 MILES AT LOW POWER & SLOW RATE FOR THE LANDING AT WHITE MARSH ARPT. THE DESCENT STARTED AT 2800 FT & CONTINUED STRAIGHT IN TO RWY 27. AT ABOUT 200 YDS FROM THE RWY & AT 200 FT AGL THE PLT DECIDED HE NEEDED POWER TO LAND PROPERLY. AS THE THROTTLE WAS APPLIED THE ENG SPUTTERED & COUGHED, ACCORDING TO THE PLT, BEFORE QUITTING. THE PLT THEN TURNED THE ACFT TO THE LEFT TO LINE UP WITH I-95 SOUTH BOUND. A TRUCK INTERFERED WITH THE HIGHWAY LANDING & THE PLT BANKED THE ACFT TO THE RT TO LAND ON THE GRADED 40 FT WIDE SHOULDER OF THE INTERSTATE. THE ACFT HIT TREES & GROUND LOOPED TO A STOP. THE PLT STATED IN HIS REPORT THAT OVER PHILLIPS AFB HE NOTICED THAT THE FUEL GAGES WERE READING 5 GALS EACH & BOUNCING AROUND. HE SAID HE FELT THAT CARB ICE OR MAG FAILURE WERE CAUSAL, AND HE RAN OUT OF TIME TO GO THRU ANY EMERGENCY PROCEDURES (AS HE DID NOT BECOME AWARE OF A NEED FOR ACTION UNTIL THE APPLICATION OF THROTTLE AT 200 FT AGL ON FINAL APPROACH).
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC84LA281
- Event ID
- 20001214X40878
- Case number
- NYC84LA281
- 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: 8d638ff853b0ab4636215fba59b4fa167f5009d58d2ce35f1a6c13d4990b6b5d; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:29:29.977Z.