2011 Arkansas Piper Cherokee crash
Branstetter Olin R Piper PA-28-180 · Uncontrolled descent into terrain for unknown reasons
From Stillwater Regional Airport (SWO) to North Little Rock Municipal Airport (ORK)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN12FA072
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 4
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- 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-28-180
- 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
- N7746W
- Operator
- Branstetter Olin R
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Stillwater Regional Airport (SWO), Stillwater, OKTo North Little Rock Municipal Airport (ORK), Little Rock, AR
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Not determined › Not determined
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, not marked as estimated; no uncertainty radius is established.
From the Wikipedia article
On November 17, 2011, Kurt Budke, head coach of Oklahoma State University's women's basketball team, died when the Piper Cherokee light aircraft he was traveling in crashed near Perryville, Arkansas, killing all four people on board. The airplane was piloted by former Oklahoma State Senator Olin Branstetter.
The subsequent investigation concluded that the pilot lost control of the aircraft, but the cause of the loss of control was undetermined. It was the second plane crash in 10 years to involve an Oklahoma State basketball team, after the 2001 accident in which two players on the men's team, six staff, and both pilots lost their lives.
Background
Olin Branstetter, an 82-year-old former Oklahoma State graduate and contributor to the university, was a certified commercial pilot with over 2,200 flight hours logged, and was the owner of N7746W, a single-engine, four-seat Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee built in 1964. The aircraft had accumulated 5,800 hours of flight, and its last annual inspection was completed a week before the accident.
On November 17, 2011, Branstetter was flying head coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna on a 'donor flight' from Stillwater, Oklahoma, to North Little Rock, Arkansas, to scout two prospective high school recruits.
On board was also Branstetter's wife, Paula, 79, a certified private pilot. On the accident flight, she was seated in the rear with Serna, while Budke sat on the front next to the pilot.
Accident
The PA-28 arrived at Stillwater Regional Airport at around 13:45. After picking up Budke and Serna, it took off half an hour later for North Little Rock. The weather was good, and no meteorological hazards were forecasted along the planned route.
About two hours after departure, radar data showed the airplane flying level at 7,000 feet over the Ouachita National Forest, Arkansas, on a south-easterly heading. At 16:10, the airplane entered a right turn and started descending, disappearing from radar shortly after. There were no communications between the airplane and air traffic control.
Hunters on the ground near the accident site reported seeing the airplane flying at a low altitude while making turns, before nosediving into a heavily wooded area. They then alerted emergency services.
The wreckage of N7746W was found mostly contained in an impact crater about 10 feet in diameter and 3.5 feet deep. Ground scars and witness marks on nearby trees indicated that the airplane had hit the ground with a 50° to 60° nose-down attitude.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the crash and released its report in February 2013. It concluded that Branstetter had lost control of the aircraft, although the reason for the loss of control could not be determined.
The investigators did not find any pre-impact anomalies with the engine or airframe that would have precluded normal operation of the aircraft. No flight recorders were installed on board, as they were not required. Weather was also ruled out as a factor.
The condition of the pilot's remains did not allow for identification of any medical conditions that may have contributed to the crash. It was not possible to perform forensic toxicology tests to detect carbon monoxide nor cyanide poisoning. However, tests for ethanol and drugs returned negative.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2011 Arkansas Piper Cherokee crash” (revision 1324102126, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
About 2 hours after departure, radar data tracked the airplane at 7,000 feet before the airplane then initiated a right, descending turn before disappearing from radar. Witnesses reported seeing the airplane flying low, descending, making several turns, before impacting terrain. Impact signatures were consistent with a steep, nose-low attitude. An examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any preimpact anomalies. The reason for the pilot's loss of control could not be determined.
Probable cause
The pilot's loss of control in flight.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2011 Arkansas Piper Cherokee crash
- Revision
- 1324102126 · 2025-11-25 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q18151865
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record CEN12FA072
- Event ID
- 20111117X01741
- Case number
- CEN12FA072
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2011 Arkansas Piper Cherokee crash" (page 43340717, revision 1324102126); merged with NTSB case CEN12FA072 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record CEN12FA072: NTSB narrative opening date, consistent with the API date and time (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record CEN12FA072
- Map position
- NTSB record CEN12FA072: NTSB API eventLatitude/eventLongitude
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record CEN12FA072: aircraft; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record CEN12FA072: operated under Part 91: General Aviation
- Fatalities
- NTSB record CEN12FA072: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record CEN12FA072: events.inj_f_grnd
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2011 Arkansas Piper Cherokee crash" and NTSB case CEN12FA072, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- 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.