Pilot & Wife Killed as Night IFR Approach Goes Terribly Wrong - GPS & Autopilot Fail [ATC]

Description On 20 October 2019, Dr. Harvey Partridge and his wife Patricia were flying their Piper PA-32-301 Saratoga, N534Z, from Columbus, Georgia, to Raleigh-Durham International (RDU) for a vacation. It was dark, with clouds broken at 1,000 ft. Cleared for the RNAV (GPS) runway 32 approach, the pilot reported that the GPS approach had shut off, then the autopilot. Hand-flying in cloud at night, he drifted off heading and altitude, missed the SINNO fix and was re-sequenced. After breaking out he could not find the runway among the city lights; the tower turned the runway lights up and controllers issued two low altitude alerts. His last transmission: "I have the runway in sight." The airplane struck trees in Umstead State Park, about 1.2 miles short of runway 32. Both on board died. NTSB probable cause (ERA20FA014): the pilot's failure to maintain a safe glidepath during the final approach, which resulted in a collision with trees and terrain. Contributing: the pilot's lack of recent instrument flight experience. - ATC audio: FAA recording (Raleigh Approach / Raleigh Tower) from the NTSB public docket - Track: FAA radar data from the NTSB docket In memory of Harvey and Patricia Partridge. #ATC #NTSB #PlaneCrash #Aviation #IFR #FlightFollower For our archive of accidents and full incident reports, visit our website: https://flightfollower.net Flight Follower covers real aviation incidents in detail: genuine ATC audio, the aircraft's own flight data and the official findings. New reports are published weekly, with a growing archive of past coverage. Follow along on YouTube and Instagram (@flight.follower) for new incident breakdowns as they are released. Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Flight_Follower Track live flights: https://airnavradar.go.link/kMcJ3 Visualization by: Flight Follower Corrections and contact for sponsorship : contact@flightfollower.net