Cessna 402C N223PB

Summary

On 27 March 2006 at about 17:30 local time, a Cessna 402C registered N223PB was involved in an accident near Dorado, United States. 8 people were on board and one was seriously injured, 2 had minor injuries. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 March 2006 at 17:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Dorado, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Cessna 402C

Registration

N223PB

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mayaguez → San Juan

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA06LA071

1 person was seriously injured.

The failure of the pilot to use on-board weather radar equipment for weather avoidance and the pilot's continued operation into known adverse weather conditions, resulting in injury to passengers.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While flying at 5,000 feet in a broken layer with some light rain and turbulence with the autopilot on, the pilot later reported, encountering severe turbulence, which lasted for 1 second. Several passengers hit their heads on the ceiling as a result. She reported avoiding all clouds after that, requested medical assistance, and landed uneventfully. One passenger who was injured reported that the pilot advised them that the flight would be "bumpy" and they needed to keep their seatbelts fastened, which she complied with. At the time of the event she could hear "...something like small pebbles dropping onto the plane. There was mist on the windshield that streamed from the bottom/middle of the windshield to the top." She further stated that after assessing herself, "maybe a minute or two, the pilot turned on a screen that had been blank up to that point." She also reported seeing "...green blobs that came on and off. It reminded me of the radar screen that I have seen on TV." Weather radar images indicate the airplane was near VIP Level 1 to Level 4 radar returns at the time of the occurrence.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.