Piper PA-28-140 N8776N

Summary

On 21 June 2008 at about 14:42 local time, a Piper PA-28-140 registered N8776N was involved in an accident near Rockland, Maine, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 June 2008 at 14:42

Classification

Accident

Location

Rockland, Maine, United States

Nearest airport

Knox County Regional Airport (RKD)

Coordinates

44.0611, -68.0789

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-140

Registration

N8776N

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Rockland → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC08LA223

1 person died.

The non-instrument rated pilot becoming spatially disorientated after inadvertently entering instrument flight conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument rated pilot was conducting a local visual flight rules (VFR) flight and had planned to stay in the traffic pattern at the non-towered airport in order to perform touch and go landings. The pilot delayed her flight, as she waited for the reported cloud layer at the airport to reach at least 1,000 feet above ground level. The pilot was seen performing a pre-flight of the airplane. The airplane was then observed taxiing for departure, departing runway 13, and entering a fog bank located immediately off the departure end of the runway. Within seconds, the airplane's engine noise was heard increasing in pitch, followed very quickly by a sound "of a thud." Eyewitness accounts of the fog bank indicated that horizontal visibility at the accident site was about 250 feet. The airplane was found inverted in a tidal flat. The pilot had flown 1 hour in the previous 12 months, which was done 2 days prior to the accident flight. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions. Given the experience of the pilot and the sudden transition from visual meteorological conditions to instrument meteorological conditions, the pilot most likely misinterpreted the acceleration of the airplane as the nose of the airplane pitching up, and applied forward elevator control to counter.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.