N281PF

History of Flight

On August 13, 1999, at 1046 eastern daylight time (All time edt), a Piper PA-28-181, N 281PF, operated by National Flyers Association, was destroyed when it experienced an in-flight breakup prior to impacting the ground about 3 miles south of Paw Paw, Michigan. The outboard section of the right wing and empennage were located approximately 0.5 miles north of the main wreckage. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight had departed Fond Du Lac County Airport, Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, at approximately 0930 en route to the Ohio State University Airport, Columbus, Ohio, on a business flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a VFR flight plan was filed. The private pilot and three passengers received fatal injuries.

The service lineman at the Fond Du Lac Airport reported N281PF had landed at Fond Du Lac on Thursday at 1600. He reported the pilot requested the airplane be topped off with fuel and oil. The lineman reported he topped off the fuel tanks with 35.9 gallons of fuel and added two quarts of oil.

The pilot phoned the Federal Aviation Administration's Green Bay Automated Flight Service Station (FAA GRB AFSS) at 0117 on August 13, 1999. The pilot spoke with the weather briefer for approximately 13 minutes concerning the weather conditions for the pilot's intended route of flight from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, to Columbus, Ohio.

At 0118:18, the GRB AFSS told the pilot, "Well, at the present time, there's an Airmet for Wisconsin forecasting occasional IFR conditions over the, ah, northwestern three quarters of Wisconsin."

At 0118:50, the GRB AFSS told the pilot, "... so VFR flight is not recommended. A low pressure system is over La Crosse right now. A warm front stretches to the southeast through about the Dayton Ohio, area. A trailing cold front to the southwest through, ah, about Omaha, Nebraska, and there's severe thunderstorm watches and convective Sigmets out for numerous thunderstorms. Right now thunderstorms extend...."

At 0119:34, the GRB AFSS told the pilot, "Ah, it looks like probably in about four hours, ah, most of the thunderstorm activity that's over central Illinois through, ah, the northern half of Indiana will probably be pushing over northern Ohio. Ah, so there's a very good probability of thunderstorms along your route of flight, especially across the Ohio area."

The pilot contacted the GRB AFSS weather briefer again between 0614 and 0628 for a weather update.

At 0616:19, the GRB AFSS told the pilot, "Well, there's an Airmet for IFR conditions for much of Wisconsin and, uh, pretty much all of Lake Michigan and lower Michigan through twenty hundred zulu. And it does, uh, well, they don't forecast any right now in Ohio. There's, uh, lines of thunderstorms that run from eastern Lake Superior to southwestern lower Michigan. Uh, other precipitation down through, uh, well, from western Lake Erie on down to southern Indiana moving east there's a line of thunderstorms, uh moving from about Marquette. It, uh, that extends back to about Wausau right now. But it looks like that line is gonna continue developing further southwest."

At 0616:58, the GRB AFSS told the pilot, "Um, there's no Sigmet on that area yet, but there are Sigmets for Michigan and, uh, Indiana. Naturally, with the Airmet for IFR, VFR flight would not be recommended."

At 0623:48, the GRB AFSS told the pilot, "Sir, uh, VFR flight is not recommended anywhere departing Fond Du Lac, east, west, south, north."

At 0835 the pilot contacted the GRB AFSS and filed a VFR flight plan from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, to Columbus, Ohio.

At 0838:03, the GRB AFSS told the pilot, "Okay, that flight plan is filed at this time. VFR is not recommended due to an Airmet and occasional IFR conditions due to fog en route and some lowered ceilings. Looks like they, ah, stay pretty much, yeah, right now pretty much marginal as far as, ah, ceilings go through much of the route."

At 0840:16, the GRB AFSS told the pilot, "Oh well, yeah, just the Airmet does call for the IFR, so just VFR is not recommended. But, ah, if you do go, um, yeah, you will run into some lowered ceilings and visibilities."

At approximately 0930, the pilot departed Fond Du Lac. The airport manager reported that the airplane sounded normal during takeoff, but that it had a long ground run before it lifted off. The airport manager reported the weather at Fond Du Lac was VFR, but the cloud bases were at 1,000 to 2,000 feet above ground level (agl) and that there were not many holes in the clouds.

At 0947, the pilot contacted the GRB AFSS via radio and activated his VFR flight plan.

At 0951:58, the GRB AFSS responded to N281PF, "(unintelligible) roger. And, uh, you have the Airmet for IFR conditions across, uh, Wisconsin, and uh, Lake Michigan and lower Michigan? Over."

At 0952:10, N281PF responded, "That's affirmative."

N281PF's approximate ground track from 1034:34 to 1946:56 was plotted using the FAA's National Track Analysis Program (NTAP) data.

At 1034:34, the NTAP data indicated N281PF's approximate location was three miles west of South Haven, Michigan, at 4,500 feet mean sea level (msl) and on a heading of approximately 120 degrees magnetic.

Between 1034:34 and 1437:46, the NTAP data indicated N281PF descended to 2,100 msl. Then the NTAP data indicated N281PF started a climb and reached 5,000 feet msl at 1045:45.

The NTAP data indicated the last radar data point associated with a transponder code was at 1046:05. It indicated N281PF had turned left to a northeasterly heading and was at approximately 4,800 feet msl. The NTAP data indicated five other data points (primary hits) not associated with a transponder code were recorded.

A witness reported hearing an airplane in the clouds. She reported the engine was "... as loud as could be," and the, "... engine was 'razzed' up like crazy," and the, "engine was screaming." She reported the wing had separated from the airplane and the airplane was whirling around, "... like a helicopter." She reported the airplane was, "... just screaming," and the, "... airplane [was] going full tilt coming down."

Another witness reported he had heard the airplane in the clouds for about 30 seconds prior to seeing it come out of the clouds. He reported the wing was already off when the airplane came out of the clouds. He reported the engine was "wide open," and the "throttle full open." He reported the airplane was spinning down with one wing on the airplane in about a 75 degree nose down position.

Personnel Information

The pilot was a private pilot with a single engine land rating. He held a Third Class medical certificate. He had a total of about 248 hours of flight time; 81 flight hours were in the same make and model airplane as the accident airplane. The pilot's flight logbook indicated that prior to the accident flight, the pilot had flown 2.5 hours in the last six months. The pilot had not logged any actual instrument flight time, and had a total of one hour of simulated instrument flight.

Aircraft Information

The airplane was a single engine Piper PA-28-181, serial number 28-8190156. The airplane seated four and had a maximum gross weight of 2,550 pounds. The engine was a 180 horsepower Lycoming O-380-A4M engine. The last annual inspection was conducted on August 5, 1999. The airplane had flown 10 hours since the last inspection and had a total time of 2,613 hours.

Meteorological Conditions

A National Transportation Safety Board meteorologist prepared a Meteorological Factual Report. The report stated the following:

"The Surface Analysis chart prepared by the National Weather Service (NWS) National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) for 1100 August 13 showed a center of low pressure located over northern Michigan. A cold front extended south southwestward from the low through Lake Michigan, central Illinois, southern Missouri, and southern Oklahoma. In addition, the chart displayed a trough of low pressure in advance of the cold front from northwestern Ohio through central Indiana, western Kentucky, and western Tennessee. Station plots over lower Michigan indicated overcast clouds, dew points in the 70's (F), and southwest winds at 10-15 knots."

At 1053, the surface weather observation at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (KAZO), Michigan, reported the following weather: Wind-250 degrees at 9 knots; visibility-10 miles; present weather-none; sky condition-overcast 1,300 feet; temperature-23 degrees C; dewpoint-22 degrees C; altimeter setting-29.69 inches hg.

At 1028, a pilot report (PIREP) indicated the following information:

"Location-Kalamazoo; time-1028; altitude-7000 feet; type aircraft-Piper PA31; sky condition-top 6,000 feet/sky clear; temperature-15 degrees F; turbulence-negative; remarks-smooth."

The In-flight Advisories (AIRMET SIERRA) for the North Central Area were valid for portions of N281PF's route of flight. (See Meteorological Factual Report)

Wreckage Information

The airplane wreckage was located in an area of small farm fields and wooded terrain approximately three miles south of Paw Paw, Michigan. The location of the main wreckage was in woods at coordinates N 42 degrees 08.981 minutes, W 85 degrees, 54.054 minutes. The right outboard wing section was located approximately 0.5 mile north of the main wreckage. The remaining pieces that had separated from the airplane and recovered during the on-site investigation were located between the right outboard wing section and the main wreckage. The coordinates of the airplane pieces that had separated from the fuselage during the in-flight break-up were:

Right wing outboard section N 42 09.292, W 85 54.069

Left horizontal stabilator N 42 09.085, W 85 54.032

Vertical stabilizer N 42 09.068, W 85 54.081

Stabilator piece N 42 09.051, W 85 54.032

Bottom stringer N 42 09.047, W 85 54.073

Top stringer N 42 09.014, W 85 54.045

The rudder was located ...