Rockwell 690B N53LG

Summary

On 27 March 2003 at about 06:13 local time, a Rockwell 690B registered N53LG was involved in an accident near Homerville, Georgia, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 March 2003 at 06:13

Classification

Accident

Location

Homerville, Georgia, United States

Coordinates

31.1056, -82.9472

Aircraft

Rockwell 690B

Registration

N53LG

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mount Pleasant → Titusville

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ATL03FA068

2 people died.

An in-flight encounter with unforecasted severe turbulence in cruise flight resulting in the design limits of the airplane being exceeded due to an overload failure of the airframe, and collision with a swampy area.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight was in cruise flight at 27,000 feet when the airplane encountered unforecasted severe turbulence. The pilot made a "mayday" on the airplane radio to Jacksonville Center. Within several seconds the airplane accelerated from 175 knots through 300 knots groundspeed and descended from 27,000 feet to 16,500 feet. The airplane disappeared from radar coverage and was located by Sheriff Department personnel 15 miles north of Homerville, Georgia, in a swampy area. Airframe components recovered from the accident site were submitted to the NTSB Materials laboratory for examination. The examinations revealed all failures were due to overload. Examination of the airframe revealed that the airframe design limits were exceeded. The pilot did not obtain a weather briefing before the flight departed.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.