Cirrus SR22 N889JB

Summary

On 15 January 2005 at about 17:23 local time, a Cirrus SR22 registered N889JB, operated by Gerald B. Ballard, was involved in an accident near Coconut Creek, 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

15 January 2005 at 17:23

Classification

Accident

Location

Coconut Creek, Florida, United States

Coordinates

26.2589, -80.1736

Aircraft

Cirrus SR22

Registration

N889JB

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Gerald B. Ballard

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ft Lauderdale → Naples

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD05FA032

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control, which resulted in an uncontrolled descent to the ground. Factors included an avionics failure, pilot disorientation, and instrument meteorological conditions. A factor in the severity of the impact was the pilot's failure to deploy the airplane's onboard parachute system.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot took off in instrument meteorological flight conditions and shortly thereafter, misinterpreted a series of air traffic control instructions to be for his airplane when they were for another airplane. Subsequent callouts and responses by the pilot indicated confusion, to the point where he stated, "I gotta get my act together here." Less than 1 minute later, the pilot reported "avionics problems," and about 40 seconds after that, during his last transmission, he stated that he was "losin' it." The airplane subsequently descended nose-down, out of clouds, and impacted a house and terrain. The airplane was equipped with a primary flight display (PFD), as well as separate backup instruments in case the display failed. The airplane had approximately 98 hours of operation since being manufactured, and had a history of PFD failures. The pilot had previously practiced partial panel (no PFD) flight. The airplane was also equipped with a parachute system, which was not deployed in flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.