Cherokee Express Air Cargo

Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain

Cargo was not weighed and weight and balance calculations were not performed. The airplane was about 321 pounds over gross. While taxiing, a witness reported seeing black smoke trailing the left engine which had been worked on the night before the accident. Two cylinders were worked on and a fuel injector nozzle was cleaned. The climb after takeoff was 'low and slow' during which the airplane rolled left, pitched nose down, and impacted the ground coming to rest adjacent to a house. Examination of each engine revealed no evidence of internal mechanical failure or malfunction. Heat damage precluded testing of the magnetos, turbocharger components, and fuel servos of each engine. Examination of each propeller revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction. The fuel nozzles from the left engine were examined which revealed that they were blocked in various places due to contaminants. After the accident the faa performed a focused inspection of the operator revealing that the cargo was not being weighed, the chief pilot of the company was in name only, and load manifests were not being kept by the company. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

Piper PA-60 Aerostar (Ted Smith 600)

The flight had been cleared for the VOR-A approach, with instructions to circle to a right downwind and land on runway 14. The tower controller observed the airplane emerge from the overcast over runway 23 abeam the VOR, then make a tight right turn onto the downwind leg, parallel to runway 14 and close in. When the airplane was abeam the runway 14 threshold, she observed the nose pitch up, and the airplane did what she described as a wing over. It then dove and impacted the runway near the threshold. The controller stated that the pilot made this round trip every day, and she had seen him do this maneuver on several occasions. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

Piper PA-60 Aerostar (Ted Smith 600)

The air taxi aircraft departed Shreveport, LA, at approximately 0500 cst on an unscheduled, domestic, cargo flight. At about 0815 est, the pilot reported on company frequency that he was approximately 30 minutes from the destination (Orlando, FL). Subsequently, the aircraft crashed in the northwest part of Lake Apopka, approximately 15 to 20 miles west-northwest of the destination airport. A witness heard it crash, then saw parts from the aircraft, but did not see the actual impact. There was evidence the aircraft impacted in a shallow descent, while in a slight left wing low attitude, traveling at a relatively high speed. No preimpact part failure or malfunction of the aircraft or engine was found, though the aircraft was extensively damaged and some of the wreckage was not recovered from the lake. The Orlando weather was in part: 2,500 feet scattered, visibility 6 miles with fog and haze, wind from 350° at 4 knots. Both occupants were killed.