ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 287929
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| Date: | Wednesday 10 November 2010 |
| Time: | 19:40 LT |
| Type: |  Mooney M20F |
| Owner/operator: | John B Welch |
| Registration: | N6878V |
| MSN: | 22-1271 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1975 |
| Engine model: | Lycoming IO-360 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Copake, New York -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Lorain/Elyria-Lorain County Regional Airport, OH (KLPR) |
| Bangor International Airport, ME (BGR/KBGR) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The airplane was approaching the destination airport in night visual meteorological conditions, on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The destination airport was at an elevation of 739 feet mean sea level (msl), located in the vicinity of mountainous terrain. About 10 miles from the destination airport, the pilot elected to cancel his IFR clearance. At that time, the airplane was at 3,900 feet msl and began a descent consistent with a 45-degree entry to a left downwind leg of the destination airport traffic pattern, which was 1700 feet msl. About 2 minutes later, the airplane had descended to 2,400 feet and was approximately 1/4 mile from the 2,000-foot summit of a mountain. About 10 seconds later, the airplane had descended to 2,100 feet, about 1,000 feet horizontally from the summit. The airplane impacted trees near the summit and came to rest about 500 feet beyond the initial impact. The summit was approximately 5 miles southwest from the destination airport. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions. The end of civil twilight occurred about 2 hours prior to the accident. Moonset occurred about 1 hour after the accident and the phase of the moon was waxing crescent with only 22 percent of the moon's visible disc illuminated.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to monitor and maintain clearance from mountainous terrain during a visual descent to the destination airport at night, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB ERA11FA055
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Oct-2022 16:53 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
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