MIA85MA064 · Piper PA-32R-301
Decatur Aviation Piper PA-32R-301 · Accident: loss of control in flight en route
From Columbus Airport (CSG) to Naples Municipal Airport (APF)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA85MA064
- 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
- 6 · 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-32R-301
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N8227J
- Operator
- Decatur Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Columbus Airport (CSG), Columbus, GATo Naples Municipal Airport (APF), Naples, FL
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 handling, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Design stress limits of aircraft, exceeded
- Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT COMPLETED A 30 MIN INSURANCE CHECK FLT, THEN LOADED THE ACFT WITH BAGGAGE/PAX & DEPARTED DECAUTER, IL ON A FLT TO NAPLES, FL. A REFUELING STOP WAS MADE AT COLUMBUS, GA. AT 1750 THE ACFT DEPARTED COLUMBUS & CRUISED UNEVENTFULLY UNTIL SOMETIME AFTER 1927 (AFTER THE PLT CONTACTED ARTCC & REPORTED MAINTAINING 9000'). STARTING AT 1953, ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT THE ACFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL; BUT THE ACFT CONTINUED ON ITS ROUTE UNTIL 2018, THEN IT ENTERED A RGT DESCENDING TURN. RADAR CONTACT WAS LOST AT 2019 AFTER MORE VARIATIONS IN HDG & ALT. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT EXPERIENCED AN IN-FLT BREAKUP. AT THAT TIME, THE ACFT WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN APRX 188 LBS OVER ITS MAX WT LMT & 0.4 INCH BEHIND ITS AFT CG LMT. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE SHOWED EVIDENCE OF POSITIVE OVERLOAD FAILURE OF THE WINGS & STABILATORS. THERE WAS EVIDENCETHAT THE ALTERNATOR LIGHT WAS ON, BUT THE ALTERNATOR, VOLTAGE REGULATOR & OVERVOLTAGE RELAY CHECKED GOOD. AT 2030, RADARDATA SHOWED PRECIP & CLD TOPS TO 14,000'. THE PLT HAD NOT MET THE IFR REQUIREMENTS OF 14 CFR 61.57.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA85MA064
- Event ID
- 20001214X41860
- Case number
- MIA85MA064
- 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 1984-12-27.
- API snapshot SHA-256: e0b6cc0da45c29bab2892b2f20f38e097d9b8993ed0e42c546a403e08841bf03; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:11:32.035Z.