Cessna 172R N987BT

Summary

On 20 December 2011 at about 07:45 local time, a Cessna 172R registered N987BT, operated by US Aviation Group LLC, was involved in an accident near Denton, Texas, United States. 3 people were on board and one died, 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 December 2011 at 07:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Denton, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Denton Municipal (DTO)

Coordinates

33.2150, -97.2036

Aircraft

Cessna 172R

Registration

N987BT

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

US Aviation Group LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

San Antonio → Denton

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CEN12LA109

1 person died.

The pilot's controlled flight into terrain while maneuvering at a low altitude in instrument meteorological conditions. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's decision to perform a circling maneuver in weather below circling minimums instead of flying the missed approach instructions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While landing at their destination airport, the commercial pilot and flight instructor flew the instrument landing system approach to runway 18. Weather was reported as 200-feet vertical and 1/2-mile visibility with fog. An observer, who sat in a rear seat, recalled that the airplane entered a fog bank during the approach. The observer saw airport lighting to the airplane's left, which was about the time the pilots realized that they were not aligned with the runway. Rather than fly the missed approach procedure, the pilot attempted to circle to runway 36 despite the weather being below minimums to circle. As the airplane set up to land on runway 36, the pilots realized that there was insufficient runway remaining to safely land but did not execute the published missed approach procedure, and, while making a left turn, the airplane impacted terrain. The airplane's flight plan was not closed out, which enabled air traffic control to initiate a search of the airplane. Incomplete radar data was used to locate the accident airplane. Despite searching 4 hours, the responders could not locate the airplane. Finally, a cellular telephone belonging to one of the pilots was "pinged" and responders were able to obtain a location; the airplane was found shortly thereafter. A postaccident review of all data available revealed that an additional radar site had recoded additional radar points, the last of which was 259 yards from the actual crash site.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.