Cessna 210A N6655X

Summary

On 28 October 2010 at about 13:34 local time, a Cessna 210A registered N6655X, operated by FBN of Catawba LLC, was involved in an accident near Aiken, South 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

28 October 2010 at 13:34

Classification

Accident

Location

Aiken, South Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Aiken Municipal Airport (AIK)

Coordinates

33.6603, -81.5975

Aircraft

Cessna 210A

Registration

N6655X

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

FBN of Catawba LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Beaufort → Aiken

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA11FA038

1 person died.

The pilot's inadequate weather planning and improper decision to continue a visual flight rules flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in a loss of control due to spatial disorientation. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s improper use of in-cockpit next generation radar imagery for short-range weather avoidance.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country flight, an air traffic controller advised the non-instrument rated pilot that a broken line of weather with moderate-to-heavy precipitation existed, which extended almost to his destination airport. During the ensuing conversation, the pilot advised the controller that he was underneath the weather and that he had weather radar. The pilot then entered the weather in the vicinity of his destination airport. Radar imagery, witness statements, and measurements from local surface stations indicated that areas of light, moderate, and possibly heavy precipitation existed and that the airplane was most likely in instrument meteorological conditions in its final 2 minutes of flight. Review of radar data revealed that, after entering the weather, the pilot's altitude control became erratic, and the airplane entered an ever-tightening right turn, consistent with the pilot experiencing spatial disorientation. The airplane completed about two and a half 360-degree turns of progressively smaller diameter before radar contact was lost, and the airplane impacted terrain. No record of the pilot obtaining a weather briefing or filing a flight plan was discovered. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of any preimpact malfunction or failure of the airplane or engine, and it did not reveal any evidence that on-board weather radar was installed. During the wreckage examination, the remains of a portable global positioning system receiver were discovered. The receiver was not certificated for use under instrument flight rules and was intended by the manufacturer to be used as an aid for VFR navigation. It was capable of displaying weather data and images from the NEXt-generation RADar (NEXRAD) ground radar network, but, unlike on-board weather radar, transmitted NEXRAD data is not real-time. The receiver manufacturer cautioned that the lapsed time between collection, processing, and dissemination of NEXRAD images can be significant, and, therefore, they should only be used for long-range planning purposes and not for short-range weather avoidance. Furthermore, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), NEXRAD data or any radar data should not be used to penetrate hazardous weather. Rather, it should be used in an early-warning capacity of pre-departure and en route evaluation. As discussed in the Safety Alert issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on in-cockpit NEXRAD, because NEXRAD images present radar data from multiple ground sites as a single mosaic image, the age indicated on the NEXRAD image does not show the age of the actual weather conditions but rather represents the time when the mosaic image was created. The actual weather conditions could be up to 15 to 20 minutes older than the age indicated on the image. Both the FAA and the NTSB advise that advanced avionics weather data systems should not be used as a substitute for a pre-flight weather briefing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.