Cessna 172 N739NK

Summary

On 22 February 2005 at about 19:24 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N739NK, operated by Ocala Aviation Services, Inc., was involved in an accident near Cedar Key, Florida, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

22 February 2005 at 19:24

Classification

Accident

Location

Cedar Key, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

George T Lewis (CDK)

Coordinates

29.1333, -83.0167

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N739NK

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Ocala Aviation Services, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ocala → Punta Gorda

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC05FA037

1 person died.

The pilot's continued flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), and his failure to maintain adequate airspeed during an abrupt maneuver to avoid a power line, which resulted in an inadvertent stall, a loss of control, and subsequent collision with terrain-water. Factors associated with the accident were low a ceiling, fog, a transmission wire, and an inadvertent stall.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument rated private pilot departed on a cross-country, 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight in a rented airplane. According to the operator who rented the airplane to the pilot, the pilot told him that he was planning to fly to a community about 135 miles south of the departure airport and return. About two hours after the airplane had departed, residents of a coastal community about 43 miles west of the departure airport, reported hearing a low flying airplane. All consistently stated that at the time of the accident, low clouds and fog substantially reduced visibility. One witness, a private pilot, said he saw the airplane fly out of a fog bank, about 20 feet above the water, over the tidal bay waters next to his home. He said it was headed towards a set of power lines that stretched across the bay, and just before the airplane struck the power lines, it pitched up abruptly and climbed over the power lines. After the airplane had cleared the power lines, he said it stalled, with the nose of the airplane dropping abruptly. The airplane subsequently collided with shallow tidal water and a dock in a nose down attitude.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.