ERA12WA255 · Piper PA-32R-300
Piper PA-32R-300 · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) during initial climb
From Treasure Cay Airport (MYAT) to Treasure Coast International Airport (KFPR)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA12WA255
- 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
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- API-reported fatalities
- 4 · 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-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
- N8415C
- Operator
- Gregory Schwartzenberger
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Treasure Cay Airport (MYAT), Treasure CayTo Treasure Coast International Airport (KFPR), Ft. Pierce, 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
- 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
- Controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT)
- 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
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
On March 25, 2012, at 1830 UTC, a Piper PA-32R-300, N8415C, was substantially damaged when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Treasure Cay International Airport (MYAT), Abaco, Bahamas. The two certificated private pilots and two passengers were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and a visual flight rules (VFR) international flight plan was filed for the personal flight destined for St. Lucie County International Airport (KFPR), Fort Pierce, Florida.
According to preliminary information from the Bahamas Civil Aviation Department, the airplane impacted trees after departing downwind from runway 32.
The wind at MYAT at the time of the accident was from 220 degrees at 15 knots.
This investigation is being conducted by the Bahamas Civil Aviation Department, Air Accident Investigation and Prevention Unit. This report is for information purposes only and contains only information released by the government of the Bahamas. All inquires should be directed to the Air Accident Investigation and Prevention Unit at:
PO BOX AP-59244 Nassau, Bahamas Telephone: (242) 377-3445
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA12WA255
- Event ID
- 20120326X01729
- Case number
- ERA12WA255
- 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.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: c202942977a46067562b00f1114b6011b9847ada17a739886811b363181cbbd0; retrieved 2026-09-13T22:16:23.767Z.