ERA23FA280 · Piper PA-32R-300
Piper PA-32R-300 · Accident: aerodynamic stall/spin during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA23FA280
- 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
- 5 · 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
- N5524F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 47 years (built 1976)
- 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
- Aerodynamic stall/spin
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A witness reported the airplane appeared to have difficulty gaining altitude after takeoff. He stated the engine sounded muffled and underpowered, and the airplane exhibited a high angle of attack with minimal altitude gain. He saw the airplane enter a slow right turn before the right wing dropped and the airplane descended rapidly in a right turn. The airplane collided with trees and terrain on a golf course and was consumed by postimpact fire. The witness statement, debris path, and impact signatures were consistent with a loss of control and aerodynamic stall. During a postaccident examination of the wreckage, flight control continuity was confirmed. The fuel selector was found in the off position; however, fuel was present in the engine-driven fuel pump, fuel servo, and flow divider, therefore impact forces likely resulted in the as-found position of the fuel selector. The engine crankshaft rotated freely and the cylinders displayed normal compression, suction, and valve operation. Overall, the postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of the airframe or engine. The airplane was topped off with fuel two days before the accident, and there was no evidence to indicate that additional flights were conducted between that refueling and the accident flight. The combined weight of the fuel, occupants, and luggage indicated that the airplane was likely operating above its maximum gross weight and near its aft center of gravity (CG) limit at the time of the accident. Additionally, the reported weather conditions about the time of the accident resulted in a calculated density altitude of about 2,000 ft. Given this information, the airplane’s overweight condition and the slightly elevated density altitude likely resulted in the airplane’s degraded climb performance during the initial climb, as described by the witness. Additionally, the airplane’s aftward CG loading likely degraded its handling characteristics and contributed to the pilot’s loss of control during initial climb.
Probable cause
The pilot’s loss of control during initial climb, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and impact with terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s operation of the airplane above its maximum gross weight and near its aft center of gravity limit, which reduced its climb performance and degraded its handling qualities.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA23FA280
- Event ID
- 20230702192495
- Case number
- ERA23FA280
- 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, cause areas. 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: 8b8534ba824a730aaee1deaf982980d39ed6fe7f3b22f17591ae03800f0a235b; retrieved 2026-09-15T08:02:11.878Z.