ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 13604
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| Date: | Monday 25 December 1978 |
| Time: | 19:18 LT |
| Type: |  Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain |
| Owner/operator: | Richard N Smith |
| Registration: | N114TA |
| MSN: | 31-7405461 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1974 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Mount Nye, near Saranac Lake, Franklin County, New York -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Detroit, Michigan (DTW/KDTW |
| Adirondack Regional Airport, Saranac, New York (SLK/KSLK) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 25 December 1978 when wrecked in a forced landing on Mount Nye, near Saranac Lake, New York (at approximate co ordinates: 44.18726°N 74.02382°W). The Official NTSB report attributed the cause of the accident to the pilot "pressing on" with his flight despite the adverse weather conditions. The aircraft was initially posted as "missing", but the wreckage was recovered from the crash site, when it was discovered near Saranac Lake on 29 April 1979 - just over four months after the accident.
All three persons on board (pilot, co pilot and one passenger) were killed. According to one published source (see link #7):
"That story sounds like the 1978 crash on Mount Nye. It happened at Christmas, 1978. It was a green and white Piper (2 engines), and it snowed soon after, so that the initial search from the air never found it. Then, just as they gave up searching, one of the two dogs on the plane showed up in Lake Placid and was recognized by friends of the pilot and two passengers who were on the plane.
The search was restarted, but the plane wasn't found until the following spring after the snow had melted. All on the plane appeared to have died instantly, but one had actually gone through the roof of the cabin. Presumably, the surviving dog followed that individual through the hole.
The word was that the pilot had been smuggling pot with his plane, and when found there was some pot and lots of cash on the plane."
Accident investigation:
|
Sources:
1. NTSB Identification: NYC79FA044 at https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=39227&key=0
2. FAA: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=114TA
3. http://planecrashmap.com/plane/ny/N114TA/
4. http://web.archive.org/web/20170317205416/http://www.baaa-acro.com/1978/archives/crash-of-a-piper-pa-31-navajo-chieftain-in-lake-placid-3-killed/
5. http://people.com/archive/inspired-by-a-dog-that-came-back-lisa-teifer-searches-for-three-men-lost-in-the-wilds-vol-11-no-10/
6. http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2009/11/a-short-history-of-adirondack-airplane-crashes.html
7. http://www.adkforum.com/showpost.php?p=49245&postcount=6
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Feb-2008 12:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 10-May-2015 18:17 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-May-2015 20:53 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Damage] |
| 26-Sep-2017 00:25 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 29-Oct-2019 18:00 | Uli Elch | Updated [Aircraft type] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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