Cirrus SR22 N288WT

Summary

On 27 January 2020 at about 22:24 local time, a Cirrus SR22 registered N288WT was involved in an accident near Woody Creek, Colorado, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 January 2020 at 22:24

Classification

Accident

Location

Woody Creek, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

39.2672, -106.8103

Aircraft

Cirrus SR22

Registration

N288WT

Category

Airplane

Year built

2017

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Aspen → Eagle

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN20LA069

Nobody was injured.

Water trapped in the static system, which resulted in incorrect airspeed display information and the pilot’s forced landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Before departing on the instrument flight rules cross-country flight, the pilot cleaned melting snow off the airplane and visually inspected the airframe flight control surfaces for snow and ice contamination, which included checking the pitot tube for contamination and proper function of the pitot heat. The pilot reported that, just after takeoff, the indicated airspeed decreased from normal climb speed to less than 20 knots. Immediately thereafter, the primary flight display showed red X’s in place of the airspeed indication, and the backup airspeed indicator became unreliable. The airspeed indicator became functional again for a short time before airspeed indications were lost after the airplane entered instrument meteorological conditions. As the airplane was approaching rising terrain, the pilot chose to activate the airframe parachute system (CAPS), and the airplane descended under the CAPS canopy to the mountainous terrain. Recorded data indicated that the pitot heat remained on throughout the flight. The data corroborated the pilot’s reported loss of airspeed indications after takeoff but showed that airspeed indications returned about 1 minute later for the remainder of the flight, until the CAPS activation. The flight director was activated during the takeoff and climb before the autopilot was activated. The data indicated that the autopilot was turned off then turned back on until the CAPS was deployed. An internally mounted alternate static pressure source provided backup static pressure if the primary static source should become blocked. Whether the alternate static source was opened during the accident flight could not be determined. Given the available information, the static system most likely had trapped water that caused the unreliable display information.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.