Cirrus SR22 N787CB

Summary

On 30 January 2011 at about 12:58 local time, a Cirrus SR22 registered N787CB was involved in an accident near Bennett, Colorado, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 January 2011 at 12:58

Classification

Accident

Location

Bennett, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Front Range Airport (FTG)

Coordinates

39.5436, -104.4317

Aircraft

Cirrus SR22

Registration

N787CB

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Englewood → Watkins

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CEN11LA164

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during an instrument approach due to spatial disorientation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he was practicing night instrument approaches in visual flight rules conditions. During the accident approach, he said he was in a right turn and had turned his head to the right to look at some instrumentation. He felt the airplane accelerate and looked at his flight displays, which indicated he was in an extreme unusual attitude, possibly inverted. He attempted to recover from the unusual attitude but realized that he had severe vertigo and spatial disorientation, so he activated the airplane’s ballistic parachute recovery system. After the parachute deployed, the airplane struck terrain in a nose low attitude, sustaining substantial damage. Postaccident inspection of the airplane disclosed no preimpact mechanical problems with the airplane. Federal Aviation Administration guidance indicates, that if neither horizon nor surface references exist, the attitude of an airplane must be determined by artificial means from the flight instruments. However, during periods of low visibility and night conditions, the supporting senses sometimes conflict with what is seen; when this happens, a pilot is particularly vulnerable to disorientation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.