TERATORN UNREG

Summary

On 2 August 2003 at about 11:30 local time, a TERATORN registered UNREG, operated by Richard A. Johnson, was involved in an accident near Elbow Lake, Minnesota, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 August 2003 at 11:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Elbow Lake, Minnesota, United States

Coordinates

45.9861, -95.9919

Aircraft

TERATORN

Registration

UNREG

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Richard A. Johnson

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Elbow Lake → Elbow Lake

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Dawn

NTSB number

CHI03LA242

1 person died.

The pilot's intentional flight into known fog and failure to maintain aircraft control during cruise flight. A factor was the fog, and the low altitude flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The unregistered two-place airplane was destroyed on impact with terrain. The non-instrument rated pilot was fatally injured. The accident pilot was told by his wife prior to the flight that the weather conditions at the destination were foggy. The accident pilot replied to his wife that he could see the tops of the trees "and he was going to fly low and follow the rail road tracks." The Sheriff's report stated the pilot's brother said that "it was too foggy to be flying. The only reason he was flying was to look for [the accident pilot,] his brother."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.