Cessna 180 N3166D

Summary

On 10 April 2003 at about 22:00 local time, a Cessna 180 registered N3166D, operated by William Sumner Humphrey, was involved in an accident near Oxford, Alabama, 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

10 April 2003 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Oxford, Alabama, United States

Coordinates

33.4583, -85.8083

Aircraft

Cessna 180

Registration

N3166D

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

William Sumner Humphrey

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Thomasville → Thomasville

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

ATL03FA075

2 people died.

The pilot's continued VFR flight into IMC conditions and his failure to maintain obstacle clearance. A factor was low ceilings.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the Macon Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS), the private pilot called in to get a weather briefing on the conditions from Thomasville, Georgia, to Detroit, Michigan. The pilot informed Macon AFSS that he was aware of the "swirling mess" and wondered how far west he would have to fly in order to avoid it. At 1438, the Macon AFSS advised the pilot that the lowest cloud conditions between Thomasville, Georgia, and Gadsden, Alabama were twelve hundred feet, and that the observation was twenty-three minutes old. The current observation showed that the weather conditions were beginning to deteriorate and that the ceiling dropped two hundred feet. A witness reported, on April 10, 2003 between 1630 and 1700 central standard time, a high wing; tail wheel type airplane flew over their home. The witness recalled the weather consisted of low clouds, rain and fog. There were several pilot reports recorded within a 60-mile radius surrounding the time of the accident. All of the reports were identified with pilot's operating under instrument flight rules. The pilot reports were consistent with the base of the overcast layer at 1,500 feel mean sea level with varying tops from 5500 feet west over Birmingham to 11,500 feet west of Atlanta. On April 11, 2003, at 1045 CST, a hiker in the Cheaha State Park discovered the wreckage of the downed airplane along a hiking trail at approximately the 1800 foot level of Hernandez Peak. Local authorities found the private pilot was seated in the right front seat, and the student pilot seated in the left front seat.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.