Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pacific Ocean
Sunday, December 15, 2002 13:05 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The twin engine airplane never arrived at its intended destination following a ferry flight over the Pacific Ocean and is presumed destroyed. The commercial pilot is presumed to have sustained fatal injuries. The pilot intended on flying the airplane from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Tinian Island in the Northern Mariana Islands, and planned on stopping to Majuro Island in the Marshall Islands to refuel. Supplemental fuel tanks were added to the aircraft's pre-existing fuel system providing a total of 373 gallons of aviation gasoline. The pilot calculated he had approximately 15 hours of endurance, and estimated the flight would take 12.5 hours. According to air traffic control (ATC) summaries and transcripts, the pilot was having trouble communicating with his high frequency (HF) radio. He relayed his last position to ATC via another aircraft and requested a climb to 10,000 feet msl. He relayed to ATC his level off at 10,000 feet, which was the last radio transmission received. A weather study conducted for the pilot's route of flight did not indicate that severe weather scenarios existed. The airplane was ferried from the U.S. mainland to Honolulu a few weeks prior to the accident, and no anomalies with the airplane were reported. The ferry tank installation in the aircraft cabin partially blocked the single right side cabin door. In the event the pilot did have to ditch the airplane in the ocean, it is questionable as to whether he would have been able to exit the airplane with his survival equipment in an expeditious manner.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
undetermined, missing aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/15/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1305 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Pacific Ocean |
| Event State | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 164350N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1693207W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PJON |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 60 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 20 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16883 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 16 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 28 2004 12:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | HNL FAA-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N101YK |
| NTSB Number | LAX03FAMS1 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | Y |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | -- |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-34-200T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 34-7770370 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5712 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 18 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3494.82 |
| Airframe Hours | 3528.93 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Harrison G. Roth |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Tinian |
| Aircraft Owner State | PO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96952 |
| 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) | Ferry |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HNL |
| Departure City | Honolulu |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 652 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MAJ |
| Destination City | Majuro |
| Destination State | PO |
| Destination Country | PS |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Unknown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 8 2004 5:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |