Cirrus SR22 N4144B

Summary

On 16 May 2021 at about 02:15 local time, a Cirrus SR22 registered N4144B was involved in an accident near Whitewater, Wisconsin, United States. 3 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

16 May 2021 at 02:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Whitewater, Wisconsin, United States

Coordinates

42.7879, -88.6841

Aircraft

Cirrus SR22

Registration

N4144B

Category

Airplane

Year built

2001

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Sheboygan → Burlington

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN21LA232

Nobody was injured.

An inflight instrument malfunction for reasons that could not be determined based on available information, which led to the pilot’s decision to activate the airframe parachute system.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that, during an instrument flight rules flight, he began receiving conflicting information from the flight instruments and digital flight information display. He stated that the turn coordinator and GPS were displaying opposite information, the heading bug was moving erratically, and he felt as if he was flying in circles. After determining that he could not rely on the information from the flight instruments, he elected to activate the Cirrus airframe parachute system. The airplane came to rest in a stand of trees, resulting in substantial damage. Postaccident testing of the electronic horizonal situation indicator, directional gyro, and horizon reference indicator revealed no anomalies except for the directional gyro counterclockwise heading stability, which exceed the testing limits by about 3°. The heading stability finding, although outside the testing limits, would not result in the instrument anomalies reported by the pilot. The reason for the flight instrument disagreement/malfunction could not be determined based on the available information.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.