Cessna P210N N731BJ

Summary

On 14 July 2022 at about 18:31 local time, a Cessna P210N registered N731BJ was involved in an accident near Buffalo, Wyoming, 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

14 July 2022 at 18:31

Classification

Accident

Location

Buffalo, Wyoming, United States

Coordinates

44.4354, -106.9507

Aircraft

Cessna P210N

Registration

N731BJ

Category

Airplane

Year built

1979

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Powell → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR22LA253

2 people died.

The pilot’s decision to continue the visual flight rules flight into localized instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in an encounter with convective turbulence and a subsequent loss of control and in-flight breakup.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed on a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country flight. Recorded automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B) data showed the airplane ascended to a cruise altitude of 17,450 ft mean sea level (msl) where it remained for about 9 minutes, 17 seconds until a descent was observed. The data showed the airplane descended 2,050 ft in 12 seconds, followed by brief 175 ft ascent. The airplane then descended 1,075 ft during the final 4 seconds of ADS-B data, which equated to about a 12,000 ft-per-minute descent rate. The last recorded ADS-B target was located about .46 miles northwest of the accident site, about 5,680 ft above ground level (agl). A witness located about 4 miles south of the accident site reported that they heard the airplane and it sounded fine until they heard a distinct over-rev of the engine, followed by the sound of the impact. Fire crews were responding to reports of a wildland fire when they located the wreckage of the airplane in rugged mountainous terrain. Based on High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) sounding and satellite imagery, the airplane most likely encountered instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) with moderate and greater convectively induced turbulence during the last 5 minutes before the accident. Postaccident examination of the recovered wreckage revealed no evidence of any preexisting mechanical malfunction that would have precluded normal operation. The outboard 65 inches of the right wing was not located within the recovered wreckage. Given the high descent rate recorded during the final few seconds of the flight, coupled with the missing section of the wing, it’s likely that the airplane broke up in flight following an encounter with moderate or greater turbulence while in IMC. The autopsy examination was limited by the condition of the pilot’s body so it could not be determined if there may have been an impairing or incapacitating event. While the impairing anxiolytic medication diazepam and its metabolites were found in liver tissue, there were no blood specimens available to determine if the medication was at a therapeutic level. Thus, whether the pilot’s medical conditions and effects from his use of diazepam were a factor in this accident could not be determined from the available medical evidence.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.