ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 25634
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| Date: | Sunday 13 May 2001 |
| Time: | 19:33 |
| Type: |  Cessna 404 Titan II |
| Owner/operator: | Air Cargo Systems International Inc opb City Wings |
| Registration: | N404BA |
| MSN: | 404-0237 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1978 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 12000 hours |
| Engine model: | Continental GTSIO-520 M |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Caribbean National Forest, near Pena Pobre -
 Puerto Rico
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Saint Croix-Henry E. Rohlsen Airport (STX/TISX) |
| San Juan-Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU/TJSJ) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On May 13, 2001, about 1933 Atlantic daylight time, a Cessna 404, N404BA, registered to Air Cargo Systems International Inc., and operated by City Wings Inc., as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 positioning flight, impacted with rising terrain, at night, in the Caribbean National Forest, near Pena Pobre, Puerto Rico (PR). Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. No flight plan was filed. The airplane was destroyed. The commercial rated-pilot was fatally injured. The flight had departed from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands at 1900. The flight was en route to Aguadilla, PR (TJBQ), with a stopover at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, San Juan, PR (SJU).
The flight was being handled as a VFR aircraft by air traffic control, was given a discreet transponder code, and was radar contact at an altitude of 4,500 feet. The pilot requested a VFR decent from 4,500 feet, and was cleared to "…descend unrestricted west bound." Radar and radio contact were lost at an altitude of 2,700 feet. The controller tried to re-establish radio contact with the airplane's pilot 10 times before initiating search and rescue efforts. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter found the wreckage, using the aircraft's emergency locator transmitter. The next day a ground search for the aircraft was halted because of hazardous terrain. Search and rescue personnel had to be air lifted into the crash site to remove the victim. A police helicopter was vectored to the crash site by ATC about an 1 1/2 hours after contact was lost with the flight, and the pilot reported that he could not fly near the crash site because of fog. He reported the ceiling about 2,400 feet. The aircraft impacted in heavily wooded, mountainous terrain at the 2,700-foot level of a 3,524-foot mountain. Toxicology test showed that venlafaxine and desmethylvenlafaxine drugs were found in the pilot's blood, and the levels found were consistent with the recent ingestion of more than 10 times a normal dose of venlafaxine.
Probable Cause: failure of the pilot-in-command to maintain altitude/clearance, resulting in an in-flight collision with rising terrain.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20010522X00980&key=1
Images:
Photos: NTSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 03-Jan-2011 09:51 | TB | Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 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] |
| 10-Dec-2017 11:22 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 17-Sep-2019 06:49 | Anon. | Updated [Photo] |
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