Cessna 182Q N630SW

Summary

On 3 June 2003 at about 14:42 local time, a Cessna 182Q registered N630SW was involved in an accident near Gettysburg, South Dakota, 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

3 June 2003 at 14:42

Classification

Accident

Location

Gettysburg, South Dakota, United States

Coordinates

44.9983, -100.2119

Aircraft

Cessna 182Q

Registration

N630SW

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Dickinson → Lawrence

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI03FA141

1 person died.

The pilot not maintaining aircraft control in cruise flight leading to his inadvertent spiral. A factor was the pilot's in-flight encounter with moderate to heavy rain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane, piloted by an instrument rated private pilot, was destroyed on impact with terrain. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot was fatally injured. No flight plan was on file. A witness stated that he dropped the pilot off at the departure airport for his return flight on June 3, 2003, at about 0730 mountain daylight time. The witness did not see the airplane depart. There was no record of a weather briefing for the accident flight. The flight was reported as missing when it did not return. The pilot had in his possession an expired third class medical certificate with no limitations. His logbook showed an entry for an instrument proficiency check on October 11, 2000, and an entry for a flight review on June 12, 2002. The logbook showed the pilot logged 2.4 hours of actual instrument flight time on October 13, 2000, and logged .4 hours of simulated instrument flight time on June 12, 2002. The airplane had a total time and hobbs time of 2,190.7 hours at that annual inspection. The aircraft impacted terrain nearly vertical. The fuselage was found crushed in an accordion like fashion with the empennage resting on top of the cabin area of the fuselage. The engine was disassembled and the crankshaft was found with a separation on the cheek between the fifth and sixth journals. Engine controls were traced from the cockpit to the engine. Both magnetos produced spark when rotated by hand. The Hobbs meter read 2,224.5 hours on-scene. Flight controls were taken to the coroner's office and were not able to be reviewed on scene. The indicated weather along a direct course was moderate to heavy rain around the time accident. Recorded National Track Analysis Program (NTAP) radar data of a flight in the area the accident site was plotted. The track of the flight was southeast. NTAP data showed that the flight, at 1434:45Z [Zulu], started a climb from a pressure altitude of 5,600 feet to a pressure altitude of 7,700 feet at 1439:33Z. The flight's altitude varied between 7,600 and 7,700 feet of pressure altitude until 1442:09Z. The remaining data points exhibited a pattern in the shape of a descending spiral.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.