One Person Fatally Injured When PA-28 Went Down After Declaring An Emergency

The NTSB's preliminary report for an accident which occurred near Dover, DE on January 13th indicates the pilot was experiencing a fuel problem before the PA-28R went down. The pilot, identified by television station WBOC as Dr. Clifford H. Turen, an orthopedic surgeon at Bayhealth medical center in Dover, reportedly had attempted multiple landings at different airports before declaring an emergency. He received vectors to Dover AFB, but impacted a line of trees and came down in a field about two miles north of the base.  The pilot was the only occupant of the airplane, and he was fatally injured.

NTSB Identification: ERA13LA111
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, January 13, 2013 in Dover, DE
Aircraft: PIPER PA-28R-200, registration: N4975S
Injuries: 1 Fatal.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

On January 13, 2013, at about 1842 eastern standard time, a Piper PA-28R-200, N4975S, was substantially damaged during a forced landing following multiple attempts to land at several airports in the vicinity of Dover, Delaware. The private pilot was fatally injured and was the sole occupant of the airplane. Night instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 and originated from the Kaolin Field Airport (OKZ), Sandersville, Georgia.

According to information provided by the FAA, the flight plan had a filed destination of Summit Airport (EVY), Middletown, Delaware. Upon nearing EVY, the pilot requested the GPS 35 instrument approach. Instrument approach procedures were attempted at EVY, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport (SBY), Salisbury, Maryland, Sussex County Airport (GED), Georgetown, Delaware, and Delaware Airpark (33N), Dover, Delaware, all of which resulted in the execution of a missed approach procedure. According to preliminary Dover Air Force Base (DOV) air traffic control voice communication data, the pilot declared an emergency for fuel and was being vectored to DOV for landing. The airplane impacted a tree line in a field about 2 miles north of the military airfield.

The recorded special weather observation at DOV, at 1842 included: wind 300 degrees at 3 knots, 4 miles of visibility with mist and an overcast ceiling of 400 feet above ground level, temperature 8 degrees C, dew point 8 degrees C, and an altimeter setting of 30.04 inches of mercury.

Initial examination of the airplane by FAA inspector revealed that the wings and fuselage of the airplane were substantially damaged and that there was not a post-crash fire.

The pilot held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single engine land and instrument airplane. An examination of the pilot’s logbook revealed that he had logged 589 total hours of flight experience.

(Piper PA-28R-200 image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov