Professional Pilots Piper PA-32 accident
Piper PA-32 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From W16 · Winchester, VA to MCCOLLUM, GA
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC82FFJ12
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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-32
- 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
- N260BB
- Operator
- Professional Pilots
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From W16 · Winchester, VATo MCCOLLUM, GA
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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 · IFR final approach
- 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 starvation; 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, not corrected
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Syracuse, NY, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT TOOK OFF ON A VFR FLIGHT PLAN WITH A LITTER PATIENT AND 3 OTHER PASSENGERS ONBOARD. THE RIGHT MAIN FUEL TANK WAS USED FOR ABOUT THE FIRST 30 MINUTES OF FLIGHT, THEN THE PILOT SWITCHED TO THE LEFT MAIN TANK. WHILE EN ROUTE, AN IFR FLIGHT PLAN WAS OBTAINED WHEN THE DESTINATION WEATHER DID NOT IMPROVE TO VFR CONDITIONS AS FORECAST. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT BEFORE DESCENDING INTO THE CLOUDS FOR AN ILS APPROACH, HE PERFORMED A BEFORE LANDING CHECK AND SWITCHED BACK TO THE RIGHT MAIN FUEL TANK.THE ENGINE LOST POWER ABRUPTLY WHILE ON THE APPROACH. THE PILOT BELIEVED THAT HE SWITCHED TO THE RIGHT TIP TANK, AND THEN LATER, BACK TO THE RIGHT MAIN TANK, WHILE ATTEMPTING TO START THE ENGINE. AS THE AIRCRAFT BROKE OUT OF THE CLOUDS, THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO MANEUVER TO A CLEARING, BUT THE PLANE STRUCK TREES AND CRASHED. THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS FOUND POSITIONED TO THE LEFT TANK WHICH HAD ABOUT 3 PINTS OF FUEL REMAINING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC82FFJ12
- Event ID
- 20020917X02548
- Case number
- NYC82FFJ12
- 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: 12c5a273f732cfadb18da5d26e321389bb2c2bd0261624721311b7d60f404273; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:11:18.281Z.