Cessna 177B N34283

Summary

On 7 August 2012 at about 15:16 local time, a Cessna 177B registered N34283 was involved in an accident near Evansville, Indiana, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

7 August 2012 at 15:16

Classification

Accident

Location

Evansville, Indiana, United States

Nearest airport

Evansville Regional (EVV)

Coordinates

38.0386, -87.5308

Aircraft

Cessna 177B

Registration

N34283

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Danville → Evansville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN12LA532

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s loss of control due to an inaccurate attitude reference, which was caused by an impending (“in process”) failure of the bearing in the attitude indicator.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported a loss of attitude reference and a subsequent loss of control during cruise flight in instrument meteorological conditions. About 15 minutes into the flight, the attitude indicator displayed a 30-degree right bank and the pilot’s control inputs did not seem to correct the banked condition. The pilot subsequently noticed a 2,000 foot-per-minute descent with increasing airspeed. The attitude indicator and turn coordinator were displaying conflicting information, and the directional gyro was indicating a rapid heading change to the left. About 5,000 feet mean sea level, the airplane broke out of the clouds, and the pilot was able to regain control and landed without further incident. The pilot observed substantial damage to the wings after landing. A postaccident examination of the attitude indicator revealed significant noise during testing, consistent with an impending gyro bearing failure. In addition, after the gyro was allowed to reach operating speed, it did not fully stabilize again after it was disturbed from equilibrium. Postaccident examination of the vacuum pump and airframe vacuum system did not reveal any anomalies.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.