FTW82FQA16 · Piper PA-32R-300
Piper PA-32R-300 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From RUIDOSO MUNI, NM to Amarillo, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW82FQA16
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-32R-300
- 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
- N4026Q
- Operator
- Curtis Lewis
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From RUIDOSO MUNI, NMTo Amarillo, TX
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- 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 › Planning/decision, improper
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT TOOK OFF FROM RUNWAY 18 WITH 4 OCCUPANTS AND ABOUT 98 GAL OF FUEL ON BOARD. THE WIND WAS FROM 210 DEG AT 8, GUSTING 20 KTS, THE PRESSURE ALTITUDE WAS ABOUT 8900 FT AND MODERATE TURBULENCE WAS REPORTED. ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE AIRCRAFT MADE A LONGER THAN NORMAL TAKEOFF ROLL AND NEVER GAINED MUCH ALTITUDE. A LEFT TURN WAS MADE JUST SOUTH OF THE RUNWAY WHILE STILL AT A VERY LOW ALTITUDE AND THE AIRCRAFT WAS UNABLE TO CLEAR THE TREES IN A WOODED AREA. ABOUT 365 FT PAST THE FIRST CONTACT WITH THE TREES, THE PLANE IMPACTED THE GROUND. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED NO PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE. A VISUAL OBSEVATION OF THE SPARK PLUGS REVEALED INDICATIONS OF A RICH MIXTURE AND THE MIXTURE CONTROL WAS FOUND IN THE FULL RICH POSITION. THE AIRPORT ELEVATION WAS 6911 FT, THE ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS REPORTED TO BE 7133 FT IN THE VICINITY OF HILLY/MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. THE CONFIGURATION OF THE GEAR AND FLAPS AFTER LIFT-OFF WAS NOT VERIFIED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW82FQA16
- Event ID
- 20020917X02128
- Case number
- FTW82FQA16
- 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 1982-04-16.
- API snapshot SHA-256: c73b86871ac9b7f5b54bd48629a11bc6ab8e6848ee9b02a25e5c2bc0cd3863ca; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:31:44.444Z.