Grand Rapids – Norfolk

On January 27, 1996 at 01:20 AM, Grand Rapids – Norfolk experienced a crash involving Piper PA-61 Aerostar (Ted Smith 601), operated by Grand Aire Express - Executive Aire Express, with the event recorded near Mount Storm West Virginia.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

1 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The pilot stated that the airplane was in cruise flight at 8,000 feet MSL, when the right engine lost power. He advised ATC of the loss of power and received radar vectors toward an airport. The pilot said he maintained the best single-engine rate-of-climb speed, but the airplane's altitude 'drifted down.' When the airplane entered clouds, it began to accumulate structural icing and would not maintain sufficient altitude. The airplane impacted mountainous terrain about 16 miles northwest of the airport. The pilot stated that he had departed on the cargo flight with 5 hours of fuel on board for what he estimated to be a 2 1/2 hour flight. Also, he reported that conditions were dark and foggy, when the accident occurred. Postaccident examination of the engines and their systems revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunction. Examination of the airplane wreckage revealed no evidence of preimpact failure of the airframe or its systems. During a postaccident engine test run, the right engine started normally and operated satisfactorily.

Aircraft reference details include registration N162GA, MSN 61-0050-095, year of manufacture 1970.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 39.2773°, -79.2409°.