Cessna T210 N9734Y

Summary

On 24 September 2009 at about 01:25 local time, a Cessna T210 registered N9734Y was involved in an accident near Hilltop Lakes, Texas, 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

24 September 2009 at 01:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Hilltop Lakes, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Hilltop Lakes Airport (0TE4)

Coordinates

31.0747, -96.2083

Aircraft

Cessna T210

Registration

N9734Y

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Shreveport → Hilltop Lakes

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CEN09FA601

1 person died.

The loss of control of the airplane in dark night light conditions due to the pilot’s spatial disorientation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was arriving at a private rural airport in dark night conditions. Witnesses estimated that the visibility was 3 to 5 miles in drizzle or light rain with overcast clouds, with the ceiling as low as 500 to 1,000 feet above ground level. The pilot initially attempted to activate the runway lighting via the pilot-activated system; however, the system was inoperable due to a recent lightning strike. An airport resident contacted the pilot on the Unicom radio and informed him that the lights were inoperable. Another resident attempted to illuminate the runway using headlights from an automobile. The pilot said that he was going to attempt to land on runway 34 using a combination of automobile illumination and the airplane’s landing lights. The pilot was west of the airport when he flew eastbound over the airport and entered a right turn for a landing on runway 34. Several witnesses said that the pilot was not aligned with runway 34 and appeared to be too high to land. The witnesses said the airplane was approximately 50 to 150 feet above ground level when the pilot stated on the radio that he was initiating a go-around. The airplane then almost immediately started a descent, struck trees on the right side of the runway, and impacted an unoccupied home. An examination of the airframe and engine revealed no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The dark night conditions that surrounded the airport and the airplane’s acceleration due to a go-around would place the pilot susceptible to spatial disorientation. According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s “Instrument Flying Handbook”, FAA-H-8083-15A, in a Somatogravic illusion “A rapid acceleration...can create the illusion of being in a nose up attitude. The disoriented pilot will push the aircraft into a nose low, or dive attitude.”

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.