Donegal Springs – Philadelphie

On September 4, 1998 at 08:40 PM, Donegal Springs – Philadelphie experienced a crash involving Piper PA-60 Aerostar (Ted Smith 600), operated by David C. Blessing, with the event recorded near Donegal Springs Pennsylvania.

The flight was categorized as positioning and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

1 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

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

The listed crash cause is human factor. The airplane departed at night after maintenance was performed on the left engine. The pilot attempted to return to the airport and while on base leg struck the ground inverted and nose down. The left engine propeller was found feathered. On the left engine, the # 5 cylinder was off the engine and the # 5 piston with the connecting rod still attached were found nearby. Interviews revealed that during maintenance, the # 1,3,5,and 6 cylinders had been removed and reinstalled; however, the # 5 cylinder had not been tightened. Several people had worked on the airplane at various stages of the work. The maintenance facility did not have a system to pass down what had been accomplished, and the FAA did not require the tracking of work accomplished in other than 14 CFR Part 121, or 14 CFR Part 145 facilities.

Aircraft reference details include registration N600JB, MSN 60-0001, year of manufacture 1967.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 40.1001°, -76.5664°.