NYC06FA169 · Piper PA-28R-200
Piper PA-28R-200 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Block Island State Airport (BID) to Westchester County Airport (HPN)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC06FA169
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-28R-200
- 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
- N5012S
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Block Island State Airport (BID), Block Island, RITo Westchester County Airport (HPN), White Plains, NY
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Altitude/clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Planning/decision, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot of the Piper PA-28R-200 departed from runway 28, under instrument meteorological conditions, with reported lightning and thunderstorms nearby. Shortly after takeoff, the airplane struck trees, and came to rest about 1/2 mile from the airport. Numerous broken and cut braches, consistent with the engine developing power were observed in the vicinity of the start of a 100-foot-long debris path. Examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any preimpact malfunctions. The pilot obtained weather information via a computer service about one hour prior to the flight. Another pilot who departed from the same runway, about 10 minutes prior to the accident flight said he was advised by a preflight briefer that an area of thunderstorms was moving toward the airport, and that the briefer recommended an immediate departure. The pilot said he departed within 5 minutes after the briefing and made a left turn, away from the weather that was approaching from the west. Witnesses near the accident site reported weather conditions that included "heavy rain," "thunder," "lighting," extremely cloudy," and "foggy" at the time of the accident. Toxicology testing indicated that the pilot, a physician, had recently been using bupropion and fluoxetine (prescription antidepressants) and oxcarbazepine (a mildly impairing anti-seizure medication also used for certain chronically painful conditions and to treat manic-depression). The FAA would not typically approve the use of any of these medications. The pilot had not indicated the use of these medications or the diagnosis of any conditions for which they would be used on his most recent application for airman medical certificate. The role of the medications or the conditions for which they may have been used could not be conclusively established in this accident.
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate preflight decision making and his failure to maintain terrain clearance during departure. Contributing, were low ceilings, rain, and thunderstorms.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC06FA169
- Event ID
- 20060712X00925
- Case number
- NYC06FA169
- 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, coordinates. 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: 0405e1ce1351ebc8e7ad99068c6cc332df557398bc5a70c7ec0c85d6fa68af94; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:12:39.093Z.