more and then nosed over in a dive straight for the ground.'Īnother commercial pilot, who did not witness the accident, reported landing at Carson City about 1130 behind the landing Aztec and taxiing behind the aircraft to the (unattended) self-fueling pumps. Still another witness reported that the aircraft appeared to climb normally to about 200 feet agl and then it 'appeared to zoom upward at an excessive rate for about 100 ft. At the stall the plane nosed down to the left and went directly down into a. However, this witness reported hearing a pop - pop sound which he attributed to one of the aircraft's engines immediately before the nose pitch up and 'VMC roll'.Īnother pilot/witness observed the aircraft climbing out at a very steep angle and stated, 'As we continued to watch the plane continued up on a steep angle, until the plane stalled. His attention was attracted to the aircraft by its abnormally steep climb angle. He did not observe anything fall from the aircraft and the engine sound was normal except that there was what the witness termed a 'Doppler shift' as the aircraft spun toward the ground.Īnother witness, a commercial pilot who was on the midfield ramp about 200 feet south of the runway edge, also reported that the engines sounded normal as the aircraft passed midfield.

As the aircraft continued to roll, the baggage door appeared to fold back over the nose in front of the windshield but it did not come off. When the aircraft pitched up and rolled to the left, he had a view of the top of the aircraft from the rear and could see that the nose baggage door on the right side of the nose was open. The nose pitched up and the aircraft rolled to the left, then the nose dropped and the aircraft disappeared behind a parked aircraft in a vertical dive and he heard the impact in the hangar. As the aircraft continued west over the runway, the witness sensed that something was wrong as the aircraft reached 150 - 200 feet agl, it yawed slightly, and appeared to mush. The nose gear had retracted and the main gear was in transit.

The witness reported that the accident aircraft lifted off prior to reaching his location and passed in front of him at 30 - 50 feet agl. The runway is 5,900 feet long and the airport elevation is 4,697 feet. The flight was originating at the time and was destined for Nacadoches, Texas.Ī private pilot witnessed the takeoff from near the midfield location adjacent to runway 27.

Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight. The aircraft was destroyed and the commercial pilot and three passengers were fatally injured. On November 27, 1997, at 1235 hours Pacific standard time, a Piper PA-23-250, N6933Y, rolled inverted during the takeoff initial climb and impacted a hangar at the Carson City, Nevada, airport.

NTSB Identification: LAX98FA048 HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Fueling Her Fire by Piper Trace