Cessna 172 N7469A

Summary

On 7 March 2019 at about 02:30 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N7469A was involved in an accident near Skwentna, Alaska, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

7 March 2019 at 02:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Skwentna, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

62.1103, -152.1678

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N7469A

Category

Airplane

Year built

1956

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Farewell → Wasilla

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

Unk

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC19FA038

1 person died.

The pilot’s decision to depart into marginal visual flight rule conditions in mountainous terrain with the potential for icing, and the airplane’s accumulation of structural icing, which resulted in the pilot’s inability to maintain airplane control and the subsequent aerodynamic stall and spin into terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was conducting a cross-country flight through mountainous terrain from a hunting camp to his home airport. Forecast products and AIRMETs that were valid for the flight route indicated that mountain obscuration, marginal visual flight rules, instrument flight rules, and moderate icing conditions were expected. A friend of the pilot stated that snow showers began at the departure site shortly before the airplane departed. The radar track indicated that the pilot initially flew low through a mountain valley, about 4,000 ft mean sea level (msl) (2,500 ft above ground level), and then climbed to 6,900 ft msl while tracking east toward the destination. The last recorded radar data target indicated an altitude about 1,000 ft above the nearest mountain peak. When the airplane did not arrive at the destination, an ALNOT was issued and an extensive multi-agency search was conducted over the snow-covered mountain range; the search was terminated about 2 weeks later when the wreckage was not found. More than 4 months later, after the snow melted, the wreckage was discovered on a mountain ridge about 15 miles east of the last radar return point. A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The damage to the airplane indicated that it impacted the ground in a nose-down, near-vertical attitude with a rear fuselage twist, which was consistent with an aerodynamic stall and spin. A review of satellite imagery, sounding data, and radar reflectivity over the accident site revealed that an overcast cloud layer with approximate cloud-top heights of 20,000 ft was present at the accident time. Moderate rime icing conditions and light precipitation were likely present. Weather camera images near the accident site indicated obscured mountaintops in broken to overcast cloud layers. Given the weather information, it is likely that structural icing accumulated during the flight, resulting in the pilot's inability to maintain airspeed and/or altitude, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and spin. A search of official weather briefing sources revealed that the accident pilot did not request a weather briefing, and whether the pilot accessed weather information before the flight could not be determined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.