Wooters LANCAIR ES N329BW

Summary

On 8 February 2008 at about 18:18 local time, a Wooters LANCAIR ES registered N329BW, operated by Louis Lamb, was involved in an accident near Albany, Oregon, United States. 3 people were on board and 3 died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 February 2008 at 18:18

Classification

Accident

Location

Albany, Oregon, United States

Coordinates

44.6875, -123.0111

Aircraft

Wooters LANCAIR ES

Registration

N329BW

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Louis Lamb

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Salem → Klamath Falls

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA08LA072

3 people died.

The pilot-in-command's failure to maintain aircraft control while in cruise flight. Contributing to the accident were inadequate planning/decision, icing conditions, and continued flight into known icing conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument rated, private pilot filed an instrument flight plan for a cross-country flight, in an airplane not equipped for in-flight icing encounters. The pilot was seated in the right seat, and the airplane's owner, also a non-instrument rated private pilot, was seated in the left seat. Family members indicated that the pilot and the owner/pilot flew together often, and the right seat pilot would provide radio and navigation assistance to the owner/pilot. Based on the available evidence, investigators were unable to determine who was flying the airplane at the time of the accident. The airplane was cleared to climb to 13,000 feet, and approximately 8 minutes after departure, declared an emergency and was lost from radar. Data obtained from instrumentation on board the airplane indicated that after attaining approximately 10,400 feet, the airplane entered a rapid descent. Weather information at the time of the accident showed that icing conditions were forecast along the route of flight. Records show multiple weather information requests from the right seat pilot's computer log-on information to a digital weather service provider the night prior to the accident, and the left seat owner/pilot received a weather briefing via telephone the night prior to the accident. All briefings indicated that visual flight rules to marginal visual flight rules conditions were forecast, and there were airman's meteorological information (AIRMETs) advisories for mountain obscuration, icing, and turbulence.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.