Piper PA28-200 accident near Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, November 5, 2000
On November 5, 2000 at about 9:55 pm local time, a Piper PA28-200, registered N3032R, was destroyed in an accident near Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). 2 people were killed. The weather was instrument conditions (cloud, fog or low visibility).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
In-flight loss of control resulting in airframe structural failure. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's inadvertant visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- November 5, 2000 · about 9:55 pm local time
- Place
- Teec Nos Pos, Arizona · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- 2 people were killed.
- Weather
- instrument conditions (cloud, fog or low visibility)
- Aircraft
- Piper PA28-200 · all PA28-200s on the register
- Registration
- N3032R · no longer on the register · serial 28r-35657
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
A Safety Board staff meteorologist performed a weather analysis for the flight. Airmet's for instrument flight rules, mountain obscuration, turbulence, and icing were valid for all portions of the airplane's flight route. The airplane brokeup in flight. The pilot contacted the FAA Prescott Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) by telephone from Page, Arizona, at 1306, and requested a forecast for Pueblo, Colorado. The forecast was for winds gusting to 30 knots; showers in the vicinity; scattered clouds at 4,000 agl; broken clouds at 7,000 agl; lowering clouds after 1700; and an increase in occasional rain and snow showers. The pilot was issued an Airmet for icing in Colorado mountain obscuration, and from Phoenix to Denver, turbulence from the surface to 39,000 feet. During the briefing the pilot told the briefer that he was "trapped in Page, trying to get back the Denver; when does it look like the system is going to clear out a little, do you have any information on that?" At 1420, the pilot contacted the Prescott AFSS by radio over Kayenta, Arizona, about 60 miles west of the accident site. He requested, and was given, the current weather conditions at Grand Junction and Farmington, New Mexico. He requested three other locations in Colorado; all were marginal for visual flight. At 1425, the pilot told the briefer "we'll be heading the southern route." The pilot did not file a flight plan. On November 6, at 1155, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) provided notification of an emergency crash locator beacon signal. Subsequently the wreckage was located at 1845, in the Carrizo Mountains, at an elevation of about 8,610 feet msl, approximately 51 nautical miles on the 260-degree radial from the Farmington VOR navigational facility. According to accident flight reconstruction information, the airplane departed Broomfield, Colorado, on November 3, and was returning the day of the accident. The pilot had not told the flying club operator of his intended destination, only that he would be back with the plane on the 5th about 1800. The airplane was refueled at North Las Vegas, on November 4, and at Page on November 5. According to fuel service witness information at Page, the airplane made a fuel stop and departed. The fuel invoice was paid at 1338. According to the flying club, it is their written and member signed policy to require all members to file flight plans for flights over 50 nautical miles or more, and all cross-country flight destinations are to be given to the operator. Information recovered from a notepad found in the wreckage documented a flight route from Broomfield (Jeffco), Monarch Pass, Blue Mesa, Dove Creek, Page, and Las Vegas, for a total distance of 545 miles.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: private
- Ratings: single-engine land
- Flight time: 274 hours in all; 13 in this make and model; 5 in the last 30 days
- Last flight review: November 20, 1999
- Medical certificate: Class 3 (valid medical--w/ waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
- Injury: fatal
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 4,045 hours
- Last inspection: 100-hour inspection, July 13, 2000
- Maximum gross weight: 2,750 lb
- Seats: 4
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: Avco Lycoming iO-360 (piston); 0 hours total
- Operator: Air West Flying Club
The flight
- Departed from: PGA Page AZ at 9:00 pm
- Destination: BJC Broomfield CO
- Flight plan: none
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 350° at 12 knots, gusting 21
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: broken clouds at 9,000 ft; not recorded
- Temperature: 32°F (0°C), dew point 21°F (-6°C)
- Altimeter: 29.70 inHg
- Observation at 9:53 pm from CEZ, 38 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 | |||
| Passengers | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Other NTSB records under N3032R the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.