ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 149259
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| Date: | Saturday 22 September 2012 |
| Time: | 01:50 |
| Type: |  Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N21750 |
| MSN: | 172S9641 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2004 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 2937 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming IO-360-L2A |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Near Lake Irene Drive and Bexley Road in Land O\' Lakes -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Pensacola, FL (PNS) |
| Tampa, FL (VDF) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot purchased the airplane and he was returning to his home base. The pilot checked in with an approach controller about 52 miles north-northwest of the destination airport; at the time, the airplane was flying under visual flight rules, and night visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The pilot initiated a gradual descent from 7,500 feet mean sea level and an air traffic controller radioed the pilot after he observed the airplane descending below 1,000 feet mean sea level. The pilot never responded to the controller’s radio calls, and the airplane impacted pastureland about 17 miles from the destination airport.
Examination of the wreckage revealed that the airplane collided with trees at a very shallow descent angle. No evidence of a pre-existing mechanical failure or anomaly was observed.
A review of the pilot’s actions during the 9 days prior to the accident revealed that he flew a 5-day international trip as a crewmember for the airline for which he flew as a captain, and then returned to Zurich 3 days before the accident. About 4 hours later, he began a trip as a passenger to Colorado.
On the day before the accident, the pilot began the first of three legs of a cross country flight, with the third leg being the accident flight. He was awake for about 18 hours at the time of the accident, with stops only being taken for food and airplane servicing.
Over the 9-day period before the accident, the pilot made three crossings of the Atlantic Ocean (each exceeding 6 time zones). These multiple and frequent time zone crossings would result in circadian disruption and would have diminished the pilot’s ability to obtain restorative sleep during this period, which, in combination with the pilot’s extended time awake on the day of the accident, would have caused the pilot to be in a fatigued state. The circumstances of the accident and his fatigue-inducing schedule in the preceding days indicate that the pilot most likely fell asleep during the initial descent for landing, and the airplane subsequently descended into the trees and terrain.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s decision to continue the cross-country flight while fatigued, which resulted in him falling asleep during the initial descent for landing.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-Sep-2012 10:52 | gerard57 | Added |
| 22-Sep-2012 11:36 | Alpine Flight | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration] |
| 22-Sep-2012 11:44 | Alpine Flight | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source] |
| 24-Sep-2012 11:57 | RobertMB | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 28-Nov-2017 13:24 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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