Rochester – Danbury

On October 28, 2007 at 01:30 PM, Rochester – Danbury experienced a crash involving Piper PA-61 Aerostar (Ted Smith 601), operated by Alexander Gray, with the event recorded near Penn Yan New York.

The flight was categorized as private and the reported phase was flight at a lake, sea, ocean, river 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 private pilot was continuing a cross-country flight after having stopped for fuel. About 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot said both engines started running rough, and he turned the airplane toward the nearest airport and descended. The pilot reported that he did not think the airplane would make it to the airport, and that due to the rugged terrain, he felt it was better to ditch the airplane in a large lake he was flying over. The pilot reported there were no mechanical anomalies prior to the loss of engine power. He said he felt that fuel contamination was the cause of the engine problem, and that not fueling during heavy rain might have prevented the problem. Fuel samples were taken from the fuel supply where he added fuel, and the equipment used to fuel the airplane. No other instances of fuel contamination were reported, and according to the FAA inspector the fuel samples were tested, and found to be clean. The airplane was not recovered from the lake, and has not been examined by the NTSB.

Aircraft reference details include registration N717SB, MSN 61-0808-8063418, year of manufacture 1980.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 42.6603°, -77.0541°.