WPR09LA324 · Piper PA-30
Piper PA-30 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Tucson International Airport (TUS) to Show Low Regional Airport (SOW)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR09LA324
- 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
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-30
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-30
- 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
- N7657Y
- Operator
- Alan Muhs
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Tucson International Airport (TUS), Tucson, AZTo Show Low Regional Airport (SOW), Show Low, AZ
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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 reported that after advancing the mixtures to full rich and turning on the fuel boost pumps, he advanced the throttles for takeoff. During the takeoff roll he noticed that the fuel flow on the left engine was a bit excessive. He stated that, as the airplane lifted off the runway at an airspeed of 80 miles per hour, the twin-engine airplane started to veer to the left. Despite the pilot’s control inputs the airplane continued to veer to the left and subsequently impacted the ground, which resulted in structural damage to both wings, empennage, and fuselage. Local law enforcement reported that following the accident the pilot stated that as the airplane was about 30 feet above the ground, “he lost power to the left engine” and was “unable to stabilize the aircraft.” Examination of the left engine revealed that all four top spark plugs were black with soot within the electrode area. The left engine fuel servo was placed on a test bench and was found to be above factory service limitations at a setting consistent with takeoff, which would equate to a slightly rich condition. No anomalies were noted with the examination of the right engine. Examination of the airframe revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. According to the airframe manufacturer's approved flight manual, the published minimum control airspeed for single-engine operations is 90 mph.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain directional and lateral aircraft control during takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the partial loss of left engine power for undetermined reasons.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR09LA324
- Event ID
- 20090703X31413
- Case number
- WPR09LA324
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: c5bd047672620979a8e3a6294b0b13ced90f0a5ffb4414a252e860f0ea4b4b1e; retrieved 2026-09-15T11:40:05.697Z.