NTSB report shows pilot and passenger were in plane “not to be flown”

A preliminary report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows a pilot and passenger were riding in a plane that was “not to be flown.” Both were killed when the plane experienced trouble and crashed in Suffolk, Va.

On Jan. 7, a single-engine Piper PA-28-140 (registration N592FL), was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Suffolk, Va. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured.

The NTSB report states the pilot had just received his private pilot certificate on Nov. 29. He owned the airplane and based it at Northeast Regional Airport in Edenton, N.C.

According to a mechanic at Northeast Regional, the pilot contacted him on New Year's Day, to inform him that the engine's rpm drop was excessive during a magneto check and that he had parked the airplane in front of the mechanic’s hangar for further evaluation. The mechanic looked at the airplane on Jan. 4. He removed the spark plugs, cleaned them, and checked for resistance. He found that two spark plugs had very high resistance and one spark plug fired a little weak. The mechanic replaced those three spark plugs and reinstalled the five other spark plugs in the engine.

The pilot arrived later that day before the mechanic had a chance to perform a ground engine run as he was busy working on another airplane. The pilot asked if he could perform a ground run of the engine and the mechanic said yes because he could listen to the engine from his hangar. As soon as the pilot ran the engine, the mechanic knew “right away” that the new spark plugs did not correct the problem as the engine was “skipping,” the NTSB report says. “The pilot shut down the engine and the mechanic informed the pilot that the airplane was not to be flown until he could investigate further, and he would most likely be able to do so on Jan. 9. At the time of the accident, the airplane had not been released from maintenance as the mechanic had not had an opportunity to further investigate the engine anomaly.”

According to family members, the accident flight was a short 40 miles cross-country flight to get lunch at a restaurant at Suffolk Executive Airport in Suffolk, Va.

According to preliminary flight track information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), shortly before the accident, the airplane approached Suffolk Executive Airport at an altitude of about 1,000 feet, and about five miles south of the airport. The airplane then descended rapidly and impacted terrain. A witness reported that she was a front-seat passenger in a car and first observed the airplane in a nosedive. At that time, there were two spiral trails of black smoke, about five to 10 ft behind the airplane; however, she did not observe any fire from the airplane.

The airplane impacted nose-down in a marshy field and no debris path was observed. The wreckage came to rest upright and was oriented south. A section of engine cowling was located about 50 ft south of the main wreckage. A postcrash fire consumed the majority of the wreckage, with the exception of the wings and engine. The engine was buried in approximately three feet of mud and further examination of the wreckage was planned following its recovery from the field.

The plane was manufactured in 1971 and registered to Grey Rose Air LLC of Edenton, NC, according to FAA records.