Cessna T182T N6289Z

Summary

On 13 August 2015 at about 16:30 local time, a Cessna T182T registered N6289Z was involved in an accident near Oroville, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

13 August 2015 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Oroville, Washington, United States

Coordinates

48.9292, -119.2864

Aircraft

Cessna T182T

Registration

N6289Z

Category

Airplane

Year built

2008

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Oroville → Spokane

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR15FA241

2 people died.

The pilot’s failure to maintain terrain clearance while maneuvering. Contributing to the accident was the pilots’ selection, for undetermined reasons, of a route different than the most commonly used route.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The owner/pilot and another pilot were on a visual flight rules personal cross-country flight near mountainous terrain. The wreckage was discovered after the sheriff's department responded to a call of a forest fire in the area. There were no reported witnesses to the accident sequence. Examination of the accident site indicated that the airplane impacted a hillside at an elevation of 3,093 ft above mean sea level, which was 2,029 ft above the departure airport's elevation. The 45-degree angle cut damage signature on a tree and the propeller damage signatures indicated that the engine was developing power at the time of impact. The fuselage, wings, and most of the empennage were consumed by a postimpact fire. No evidence of any preimpact mechanical anomalies was discovered with the engine or airframe. It could not be determined which pilot occupied which seat and who was manipulating the flight controls when the accident occurred. It is unknown why the pilots attempted to fly over the mountain range to the east rather than to use the most common flight route down the valley toward the south. Further, the location where they attempted to cross the rising terrain was very close to the airport, and a witness had seen the airplane depart and fly eastbound at an altitude of about 400 ft above ground level. Therefore, the pilots had a reduced amount of time and distance to climb the airplane to an altitude sufficient to clear the mountain range. The pilot's decision to turn eastbound to cross the mountain range placed the airplane in a situation that prevented a successful crossing, and the pilot failed to recognize that the airplane was unable to climb above the terrain until it was too late to escape.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.