Cessna 172B N8059X

Summary

On 23 September 2012 at about 08:30 local time, a Cessna 172B registered N8059X was involved in an accident near Atlantic Ocean, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

23 September 2012 at 08:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Atlantic Ocean, United States

Coordinates

37.6349, -72.8611

Aircraft

Cessna 172B

Registration

N8059X

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Jacksonville → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

ERA12LA578

1 person died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot had been experiencing difficulties in his personal life and had joked with a clergyman about 2 days before the accident that he should, “just fly his plane into the ocean.” The pilot was subsequently reported missing. The investigation revealed that he arrived at the airport where his airplane was kept about 2 o’clock in the morning the day of the accident. Radar data showed that a primary radar target departed the airport vicinity about 45 minutes later and flew east. After a brief period of maneuvering over the open ocean about 21 nautical miles from shore, radar contact with the target was lost. A portion of airplane wreckage was recovered from the ocean later that day by a commercial diving vessel and was subsequently identified as being of the same make, model, and vintage as the accident airplane. No further wreckage was recovered, nor were the remains of the pilot. A hand-written suicide note was found inside the pilot’s vehicle, which was parked in the airplane’s hangar.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.