Piper PA-28-161 Water Impact Near Venice, Florida (N465TC)

Accident Overview and Flight History On March 24, 2008, at approximately 2040 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-161, registration N465TC, was substantially damaged when it struck water shortly after departing Venice Municipal Airport (VNC) in Venice, Florida. The accident occurred during a local personal flight conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, with night visual meteorological conditions prevailing and no flight plan filed. The certificated commercial pilot was fatally injured. According to the president of a fixed-based operator (FBO) at VNC, the pilot had recently completed a checkout flight with a certified flight instructor (CFI), which qualified him to rent the FBO's aircraft. The accident flight was his first solo flight in an FBO airplane. The aircraft departed runway 31 and was on a left downwind leg for runway 31 when it descended and impacted the Gulf of Mexico approximately one-half mile west of the shore. Primary radar targets were recorded at the Tampa, Florida FAA terminal radar approach control (TRACON). A target was recorded near the departure end of runway 31 at 2038:41, with eleven additional targets recorded along a track consistent with a left traffic pattern for runway 31. The last radar target was recorded approximately mid-field, about one mile west of runway 31, at 2039:36. Although the primary radar targets were consistent with the accident flight, they could not be positively identified as the accident airplane, and no altitude information was recorded because only primary radar targets were available.