ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 21728
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| Date: | Saturday 21 June 2008 |
| Time: | 10:42 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee |
| Owner/operator: | Knox County Flying Club |
| Registration: | N8776N |
| MSN: | 28-25600 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1969 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 7401 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming O-320-E2A |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Knox County Regional Airport, Knox County, ME -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Rockland-Knox County Regional Airport, ME (RKD/KRKD) |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The non-instrument rated pilot was conducting a local visual flight rules (VFR) flight and had planned to stay in the traffic pattern at the non-towered airport in order to perform touch and go landings. The pilot delayed her flight, as she waited for the reported cloud layer at the airport to reach at least 1,000 feet above ground level. The pilot was seen performing a pre-flight of the airplane. The airplane was then observed taxiing for departure, departing runway 13, and entering a fog bank located immediately off the departure end of the runway. Within seconds, the airplane's engine noise was heard increasing in pitch, followed very quickly by a sound "of a thud." Eyewitness accounts of the fog bank indicated that horizontal visibility at the accident site was about 250 feet. The airplane was found inverted in a tidal flat. The pilot had flown 1 hour in the previous 12 months, which was done 2 days prior to the accident flight. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions. Given the experience of the pilot and the sudden transition from visual meteorological conditions to instrument meteorological conditions, the pilot most likely misinterpreted the acceleration of the airplane as the nose of the airplane pitching up, and applied forward elevator control to counter.
Probable Cause: The non-instrument rated pilot becoming spatially disorientated after inadvertently entering instrument flight conditions.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 2 August 1970 | N8776N | Big Sky Enterprise | 0 | Waterford, CT | |
sub |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Jul-2008 23:20 | Fusko | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:14 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:16 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:20 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 03-Dec-2017 11:19 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Other fatalities, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
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