Piper PA-28-150 N5899W

Summary

On 14 December 2002 at about 16:33 local time, a Piper PA-28-150 registered N5899W was involved in an accident near Cashiers, North Carolina, United States. 2 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 December 2002 at 16:33

Classification

Accident

Location

Cashiers, North Carolina, United States

Coordinates

35.2500, -83.1667

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-150

Registration

N5899W

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Nashville → Greenville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA03LA029

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's inadequate in-flight decision by which he conducted visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions and his failure to maintain terrain clearance. Contributing factors were a low ceiling and mountainous terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot said he had just climbed to 9,000 feet, about 30 miles from Greenville, South Carolina, he saw the city in the distance. He said that after checking the automated terminal information service and noting that the cloud cover was reported as 5,000 feet scattered at the Greenville, South Carolina airport, he told the FAA Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center controller, who had been providing him with visual flight rules flight following service, that he would be initiating his descent in visual meteorological conditions. He said that was the last thing he remembered prior to the accident. According to the FAA inspector who responded to the scene of the accident, the airplane impacted snow covered White Side Mountain, near Cashiers, North Carolina, at about the 4,200-foot level.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.