Pilot Debrief

BEECH A36 near Andrews, TX — 2015-02-05

Final reportCEN15LA137
Sign in to save
Date
2015-02-05
Location
Andrews, TX, USA
Airport
E11
Aircraft
BEECH A36
Registration
N29AC
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Serious
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Approach

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to note that icing conditions existed in the airport area despite having received that information in a preflight briefing, which resulted in his flight into an area of icing and the subsequent loss of airplane control due to ice accumulation on the airplane.

NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot was conducting a personal cross-country flight. Before departure, the pilot received a weather briefing, which called for icing conditions below 12,000 ft for an area that encompassed the destination airport. The pilot reported that he contacted the air route traffic controller to request an area navigation global positioning system (RNAV GPS) approach. Before initiating the approach, the pilot listened to the destination airport's current automated weather observation. After the controller cleared the approach, the airplane descended through a 200- to 300-ft-thick cloud layer and then broke out of the clouds about 700 to 800 ft above ground level with the runway in sight. The airplane was descending a little more quickly than desired, so the pilot added full power, and, even though the engine sounded fine, the descent rate continued. The airplane contacted the ground about 3,000 ft short of the runway, less than 1 minute from the time it descended out of the clouds. An on-scene examination of the airplane revealed 1/4- to 1/2-inch-thick ice on the leading edge of the wings, vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer, windscreen, and several antennas on the fuselage. The air traffic controller did not verify, as required, that the pilot had the current local weather information so verification by the controller likely would not have affected the pilot's decision to land at the destination airport. Further, although the controller did not solicit nor distribute a pilot report to the accident pilot or the pilot in the airplane that landed just before the accident airplane, the pilot had received information in his weather briefing indicating that icing was possible in the area.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Controlled flight into terrain
First missed decision gate
Controller failed to provide current weather information for E11 before approach.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Photos
  • 10 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents10

Related mishaps