Cessna 172 N5845A

Summary

On 19 September 2009 at about 15:06 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N5845A was involved in an accident near Lowndesville, South Carolina, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

19 September 2009 at 15:06

Classification

Accident

Location

Lowndesville, South Carolina, United States

Coordinates

34.1592, -82.6942

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N5845A

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Maryville → Athens

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA09LA527

2 people died.

The pilot's inadequate preflight planning and improper decision to continue flight into deteriorating weather conditions, which resulted in spatial disorientation after 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 personal cross-country visual flight rules flight and had not obtained a weather briefing. Two witnesses heard the airplane make several passes over their location. One of the witnesses reported that the engine was "making a pop pop sound intermittently," then it sounded like a lot of engine power was applied. They both reported that they had observed the airplane descending out of the "very low" overcast cloud layer between 70 and 90 degrees nose down attitude, with the wings level on a path directly toward them. The airplane veered away from their location, and then impacted into a lake approximately 75 feet from their location. Prior to impacting the water, one of the witnesses reported that several control surfaces appeared to be moving in the correct direction. These witnesses also reported that there had been rain just prior to the accident, and the overcast cloud layer was approximately 100 to 200 feet above tree top level, or about 300 feet above ground level. Neither the aircraft maintenance logbooks nor the pilot's flight logbooks were located. Given the lack of an instrument rating and the 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. Examination of the wreckage revealed no preimpact mechanical malfunctions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.