FlightFollowerIce-cool Piper pilot safely ditched in the Hudson following engine failure
A sightseeing flight over the Hudson
Late on the afternoon of Sunday, January 27, 2013, a commercial pilot took a Piper PA-32-260 Cherokee Six, registration N1967E, on a personal sightseeing flight along the Hudson River with one passenger on board. The weather was clear, she had filed a VFR flight plan, and by her own account the aircraft left with 74 gallons of fuel, far more than a local flight needed.
She was cruising at about 1,200 feet when, abeam the Alpine Tower near Alpine, New Jersey, the engine began to run roughly. Working through the emergency checklist, she pulled on carburetor heat. Instead of smoothing out, the engine got worse over the next 15 seconds or so. She pushed the carburetor heat back off and the engine recovered.
Power comes back, then fails again
With power restored, she climbed back to 1,200 feet. About 20 seconds later the stutter returned, and this time the aircraft could not hold altitude. She made a Mayday call and set up for a landing on the river.
The touchdown on the water was smooth. Both occupants got out of the cabin and were picked up by first responders, and neither was hurt. The NTSB later recorded the aircraft as substantially damaged, following a partial loss of engine power and forced landing near Yonkers, New York.
What investigators found in the engine
The Cherokee sank and wasn't raised from the river bed until February 7, 2013. Apart from a bent upper rudder and nose gear, the airframe was largely intact. It was taken to a storage facility in Clayton, Delaware, for a full examination.
The cockpit settings matched the pilot's account. The fuel selector was on the left main tank, the engine controls were all fully forward, and the carburetor heat control was in the cold position and worked normally when tested. When the engine was turned by hand, every cylinder showed compression and suction. Of the ignition leads, those serving the No. 2 and No. 4 top spark plugs produced a spark.
Two details stood out. The fuel inlet screen on the carburetor had a sand-like material on its surface, and the carburetor venturi, while undamaged, had a light coating of mud and debris. Because the aircraft had spent more than a week on the bottom of the Hudson, those deposits could not be tied to the in-flight power loss with any certainty.
The official finding
The NTSB's probable cause was a partial loss of engine power for reasons that could not be determined. The engine and its components showed no mechanical malfunction or failure that would have prevented normal operation.
Why this case matters
An unexplained power loss leaves a pilot with only one reliable tool: a planned, controlled forced landing. Here the pilot tried the checklist fix, saw it make things worse, reversed it, and used the brief recovery to climb back to altitude. When the engine faltered a second time she didn't keep troubleshooting. She declared the emergency and flew the aircraft onto the water under control. On a cold January river, that decision to commit early is why both people walked away.
Research and reconstruction
Flight Follower Editorial Team
This reconstruction was researched from official investigation records where they exist, the original air traffic control recording, and contemporary reporting. The aircraft movement, timeline and written account were assembled independently by Flight Follower. Where an investigation is open or no probable cause has been published, the account says so rather than offering one.
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- Incident date
- Date: Sunday 27 January 2013 Time: 17:30 Type: Piper PA-32-260 Cherokee Six R
- Aircraft / registration
- Piper PA-32-260 Cherokee Six
- Investigation status
- NTSB Final Report ERA13LA121