Pilot Debrief

CESSNA 182M near Atlanta, ID — 2009-06-03

Final reportWPR09FA282
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Date
2009-06-03
Location
Atlanta, ID, USA
Airport
KBOI
Aircraft
CESSNA 182M
Registration
N70946
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Fatal
Fatalities
1
Phase of flight
Cruise

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain terrain clearance during cruise flight.

NTSB narrative

The single engine airplane impacted a vertical rock cliff face in mountainous terrain about 500 feet below a mountain ridge line. Global Positioning System (GPS) data was recovered from a portable GPS unit that was located with the airplane wreckage. The GPS data track originated in the vicinity of the departure airport, and proceeded at 8,350 feet mean sea level (msl) northeast for 57 miles, and abruptly ends in the vicinity of the accident site. During the last 2 minutes of the flight, the track increased in altitude from 8,350 feet to 8,891 feet msl. The height of the mountain ridge line directly ahead of the airplanes' flight path was between 9,100 feet and 9,580 feet msl. The end of the GPS track did not exhibit any deviations that could be interpreted as an evasive maneuver. The cloud coverage in the vicinity of the accident location was between scattered and broken, with bases between 8,000 and 9,000 feet msl, cloud tops were about 15,000 feet msl, with visibility greater than 3 miles in cloud-free areas.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Controlled flight into terrain
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have chosen to avoid mountainous terrain during flight.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • ADS-B / radar
  • Photos
  • 20 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents20

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