Preliminary Report Released for Crash of PA-34-200T N81291

Interesting read...been waiting for this to come out since it happened. There was a post-crash fire (even if small) and it sounds as if the left engine was still operating at the time of impact.

Two things they got wrong. The crash site is in Ky not Tn. The crash site is east of M34, not west. I doubt he ever had M34 in site from 10 mi. Runway lights have to be turned on with ctaf, which he didn't know. Their is a beacon however. My guess is that if he saw a bunch of lights it was either Barkley Dam or Kentucky Dam. They have a million lights and Kentucky Dam has very tall transmission towers with large blinking lights that I can see from 50 miles when returning on a clear night.