Cessna T210L N22219

Summary

On 23 March 1997 at about 20:00 local time, a Cessna T210L registered N22219 was involved in an accident near Dillon, Montana, United States. 4 people were on board and 4 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 March 1997 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Dillon, Montana, United States

Coordinates

45.0505, -112.8203

Aircraft

Cessna T210L

Registration

N22219

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bozeman → Ely

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

Unk

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA97FA075

4 people died.

flight by the pilot into adverse weather conditions, and his failure to maintaint altitude/clearance from terrain. The adverse weather condition was a related factor.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane collided with terrain at high airspeed, & wreckage was distributed about 380 ft from the 1st impact mark. Weather in the area was described as broken showers & squalls. During on-scene investigation, no pre-crash mechanical discrepancy was noted. No eye-witnesses were found, but a person reported hearing an airplane in the vicinity at about the time of the accident. This witness was on top of a mountain 24 miles northwest of the accident site. He heard an airplane that he was believed was heading south. The witness observed that the weather in the vicinity was cloud covered, and the top of nearby Clark Canyon could not be seen. Also, the witness reported that the weather was very windy, with large clouds moving by all day. The visibility was reported to be good at times, but within minutes visibility could become obscured. Radar data indicated that a radar target with a VFR transponder code and no altitude encoder response was on a southwesterly heading in the vicinity, around the time of the accident. The last radar response on that target was at 1248:57, about 10 miles north of the accident site. The accident site was covered with snow that obscured distinguishing vegetation, rocks, or other characteristics on the surface.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.