WPR26FA151 · Piper PA-32R-301T

On April 08, 2026 at 1710 mountain standard time, a Piper PA-32R-301T, N4190E, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Marana, AZ. The pilot and passenger sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

A review of ADS-B data revealed that the pilot and passenger were returning from a long cross-country flight they had made several days before the accident. They departed at 0712 and while en route back to Marana, they made two stops, refueling at each location. On the accident leg of the trip, the airplane departed Springerville, Arizona about 1550 and proceeded west, climbing to about 10,500 ft mean sea level (msl) while gradually heading toward the south-west. About 1630, the airplane proceeded south toward Marana and then began a gradual descent while continuing south toward Marana.

At 1701 the pilot transmitted over the Marana traffic Unicom frequency that he was 11 miles from the airport and intended to land on runway 21 using a left traffic pattern. Immediately thereafter, another airplane departing Marana made radio calls stating that they departed runway 21 and were leaving the area.

ADS-B data showed that the accident airplane crossed over the town of Marana and at1704 the pilot reported that he was just north of the airport and was adjoining the downwind leg for runway 03 using a left traffic pattern. The airplane then continued around the traffic pattern and on the final approach leg, about 1.5 nm from the runway threshold, the airplane was 950 ft above ground level (agl), maneuvering about 120 kts true airspeed (TAS). The airspeed temporarily increased to 130 ft and then decreased to 105 as the airplane crossed the runway threshold. About 7 seconds later, after the airplane likely touched down and reached the lowest speed of 96 kts, the speed began to increase consistent with pilot aborting the landing with 1,975 ft of runway remaining.

The pilot transmitted that he had performed a go-around and then made two separate radio calls stating that he was turning onto the base and final approach legs of the traffic pattern for runway 03. The airplane made a closer pattern than the first approach and was maneuvering about 350 to 425 ft agl. After slightly overshooting the final approach course, the airplane adjoined the leg about 3,200 ft from the runway threshold while maneuvering at 130 kts (see figure 1 below).

Figure 1: Flight path of both approaches The airplane’s airspeed temporarily increased to 135 kts and then decreased, reaching 116 kts as the airplane crosses the runway threshold (see figure 2 below). The airplane touched down an estimated 1,500 ft from the runway threshold and bounced back airborne several times. The ground speed decreased to 80 kts with about 1,300 ft of runway remaining and continued to gradually decrease reaching the end of the runway surface at 54 kts. The last recorded speed of about 44 kts was adjacent to the accident site (see figures 3 and 4 below).

Figure 2: Accident landing approach and speeds

Figure 3: Speed comparison of go-around and accident landing

Figure 4: Compilation of security camera footage showing segments of the landing roll

The main wreckage came to rest in and around a concrete drainage culvert set into an embankment. A majority of the airframe was consumed by fire with only the aft empennage and left wing tip remaining intact. The concrete on the top of the culvert was broken and there were blue paint transfers consistent with the lover nose section making contact. The three-bladed propeller was separated at the mounting flange at the engine crankshaft and found above the culvert

Main landing gear and nose landing gear tire marks were visible on runway 03. The first detectable main landing gear and nose landing gear marks began on the runway surface about 495 ft from the main wreckage, which was about 230 ft from the end of the runway surface. The tracks on the runway veered to the right and continued through the soft dirt area, between the runway edge lights. The tracks were not present in several areas of the dirt, the longest of which was when the terrain sloped down to the drainage consistent with the airplane leaving the ground just prior impacting the concrete culvert.

Marana Regional Airport was an uncontrolled airport equipped with four runways. Runway 03 was equipped with a 2-light PAPI (precision approach path indicator) system with an approach slope of 2.9° located to the left. The runway was equipped with MIRL (medium intensity runway lighting system) which outlined the runway with lights. The runway measured 3,892 ft long by 75 ft wide, with a displaced threshold of 494 ft, which provided a landing distance available of 3,398 ft (see figure 5 below). There was a Notice to Airman (NOTAM) active for the airport stating that runways 12 and 30 (6,901 ft in length) were closed between April 6th and 13th.

Figure 5: Runway 03 distances

Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset