Beechcraft A36 N888WD

Summary

On 10 September 2009 at about 18:15 local time, a Beechcraft A36 registered N888WD, operated by Youngblood Larry J, was involved in an accident near Flat Rock, North Carolina, 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

10 September 2009 at 18:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Flat Rock, North Carolina, United States

Coordinates

35.2544, -82.4628

Aircraft

Beechcraft A36

Registration

N888WD

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Youngblood Larry J

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Asheville → Asheville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA09FA514

1 person died.

The pilot’s attempt to maintain visual flight during instrument meteorological conditions, resulting in controlled flight into mountainous terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to advise the controller of the weather conditions encountered, and his failure to request minimum safe altitude warning (MSAW) monitoring before departure.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Although the pilot was instrument rated, the investigation found no record that his rating was current. The pilot advised the air traffic controller before departure that he did not want to execute any instrument landing system (ILS) approaches even though they were in use at the time, and neither transceiver was configured to the localizer frequency. Due to the mountainous terrain surrounding the airport, local air traffic control (ATC) had designated certain mode 3 transponder codes that inhibit minimum safe altitude warning (MSAW) processing for a controller. This was accomplished to prevent repeated nuisance alarms for aircraft operating under visual flight rules (VFR) and not requesting MSAW processing. The pilot did not request MSAW monitoring before departure or at any time during the flight; therefore, the assigned VFR transponder code (0210) inhibited the MSAW. The pilot departed the flight with a reported ceiling of 1,500 feet and 10 miles visibility before proceeding south of the departure airport and electing to return, remaining in constant contact with ATC. While operating only several hundred feet above mountainous terrain, in instrument flight rules conditions due to fog, the pilot did not advise the controller of the weather encountered. While being vectored towards the airport, the airplane impacted trees then terrain at an elevation of approximately 2,809 feet mean sea level. The pilot made no distress call and the controller did not provide a MSAW warning to the pilot. Postaccident examination of the airplane, engine, and engine systems revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction. While testing of avionics revealed that the “Trim” light bulbs of the autopilot remote mode annunciator and the autopilot and flight director computer were illuminated at the moment of impact, the left pitch trim actuator was found in the neutral position and the circumstances of the accident do not support a pitch trim malfunction. Additionally, the autopilot was not activated at the moment of impact.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.