Date:	Sunday 10 March 1991
Time:	10:25
Type:	Cessna 175C Skylark
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	G-ARWM
MSN:	175-57109
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	near Chilgrove, West Sussex -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Tatenhill, Staffordshire (EGBM)
Destination airport:	Goodwood Aerodrome, Chichester, West Sussex (EGHR)
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
On 10 March 1991 Cessna 175 G-ARWM was on a flight from Tatenhill, in Staffordshire, its intended destination being either Henstridge, in Somerset, or Goodwood. Ultimately the pilot of the Cessna selected Goodwood and notified Southampton ATC accordingly. The weather was not good that day. There was low cloud and rain. The pilot, who had a British PPL (with an IMC rating) and a US CPL (with instrument rating), made contact with Goodwood ATC. He was cleared to land there. However something must have gone wrong with his approach as the Cessna next was seen north-west of the airfield heading toward the high ground of the South Downs. The pilot informed Goodwood ATC that he had missed his approach. He climbed away, presumably intending to go round. When next Goodwood ATC contacted the pilot, about three minutes later, his response was:

'Golf Whisky Mike [the aircraft's call sign] I've a major problem ..... I'm suffering major spatial disorientation ..... I'm in a loop'.

That was the last Goodwood ATC heard from the pilot of G-ARWM. It alerted the emergency services. Minutes later the Sussex Police helicopter took off, having been given the Cessna's last known bearing. Eleven minutes later the helicopter located wreckage in a field on Heathbarn Down, near Chilgrove. It landed and found the pilot lifeless.

The crash was investigated by the AIB. Radar recordings showed that the Cessna had followed an erratic course from its approach to Goodwood to the crash site. Examination of the wreckage showed that the pilot had dived into the ground at high speed in a near vertical attitude. The aircraft had suffered near total destruction, which made it more difficult to draw useful conclusions from the examination of its wreckage. However no pre-impact damage to the aircraft was detected (although its VOR had a history of problems, which seemingly had been resolved prior to this flight). Nor did a post-mortem examination of the pilot's body reveal any pre-existing medical condition. Thus it would appear that the cause of the crash was the pilot's spatial disorientation in cloud. The pilot was alone in the aircraft at the time.

Aircraft destroyed: Registration G-ARWM cancelled by the CAA as aircraft "destroyed" 4.7.1991

1. Air Britain: British Civil Aircraft Registers 1919 to 1999 (published 1999)
2. AAIB: https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/5422f46640f0b6134600054d/Cessna_175C__G-ARWM_06-91.pdf
3. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=ARWM
4. G-ARWM at Chilbolton, Hampshire 18/11/1989: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1550068
5. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=16860.0
6. G-ARWM at Sandown, Isle of Wight in 1977: https://www.flickr.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/14190424198
7. G-ARWM at Cranfield, Bedfordshire 1977: https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1613708

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Jun-2013 11:59	Uli Elch	Added
16-Jun-2013 12:37	Uli Elch	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Location, Narrative]
18-Jun-2013 09:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
14-Nov-2014 22:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code, Narrative]
14-Nov-2014 22:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator]
26-Feb-2016 21:51	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
22-Jul-2020 22:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]