ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 70121
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| Date: | Friday 13 November 2009 |
| Time: | 19:02 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee 180 |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N7736N |
| MSN: | 28-5179 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1968 |
| Engine model: | Lycoming O-360 SER |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Mahnomen, Minnesota -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Lakeville, MN (LVN) |
| Hallock, MN (HCO) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The non-instrument rated pilot received an outlook weather briefing about 6 hours before the accident flight. The briefer informed the pilot that instrument flight conditions existed and were expected to continue with improvement expected the following day. There were no records of additional weather briefings before the accident flight. Weather and global positioning system data showed that the airplane flew into an area of instrument weather conditions about 210 nautical miles into the 290 nautical mile night cross-country flight. The GPS data showed that in the last minute of the flight the airplane turned left from a heading of about 340 degrees to 300 degrees, followed by a right turn to a heading of 015 degrees which corresponded to the last recorded position. The airplane's average groundspeed during the last 20 seconds of the recorded data was about 120 knots. The recorded cloud base heights at airports near the accident site were as low as 400 feet overcast east of the accident site with higher cloud bases to the west of the accident site. It is likely that the sustained turn sequences while in night instrument meteorological conditions resulted in spatial disorientation. The airplane impacted trees and terrain, and a post-impact fire ensued. No pre-impact anomalies were found with respect to the airplane or its systems.
Probable Cause: The non-instrument rated pilot's decision to continue the flight into known instrument meteorological conditions resulting in spatial disorientation and impact with terrain.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 20-Nov-2009 21:32 | slowkid | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:25 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 02-Dec-2017 17:48 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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