Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Beverly Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Danvers, Massachusetts 01923
Monday, May 21, 2001 22:01 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot and two passengers departed on a night VFR flight. Weather at the time was approximately 100 foot overcast and 2 1/2 miles in mist. When the airplane was approximately 100 feet agl, the landing light went out, and the airplane entered the overcast. The airplane came out of the overcast in about a 15-degree nose low attitude, and then climbed back into the clouds. The airplane crashed shortly afterwards and a post-crash fire erupted. The airplane impacted the ground approximately 70-degrees nose low. Examination of the wreckage revealed no preimpact failures with the airplane, or any of its systems. There was no record of the pilot receiving a weather briefing on the night of the accident. The pilot had approximately 1,800 of total flight experience with approximately 13 hours being in the previous 30 days. The pilot's expired FAA medical certificate restricted him from night flight because of defective color vision. There was no record of the pilot obtaining a weather briefing prior to the flight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control. Factors in the accident were the dark night, low ceiling, reduced visibility, and the pilot's decision to attempt a visual flight rules flight in marginal weather conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/21/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2201 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Danvers |
| Event State | MASSACHUSETTS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 01923 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 423508N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0705528W |
| Event Location Airport | BEVERLY MUNI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BVY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 200 |
| Airport Elevation | 108 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2210 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 200 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BVY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 108 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2.5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10765 |
| NTSB Notification Source | New England Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 21 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2230 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 17 2001 9:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Boston FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8365M |
| NTSB Number | NYC01FA128 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-161 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-8116193 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 12 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 90 |
| Airframe Hours | 10200 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | High Flight, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Beverly Municipal Airport |
| Aircraft Owner City | Beverly |
| Aircraft Owner State | MA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 01915 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BVY |
| Departure City | BEVERLY |
| Departure State | MA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2158 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 1 2001 9:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 4634 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |