Pilot Debrief

CESSNA 172M near Joshua Tree, CA — 2010-01-18

Final reportWPR10LA115
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Date
2010-01-18
Location
Joshua Tree, CA, USA
Aircraft
CESSNA 172M
Registration
N13073
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Serious
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Cruise

Probable cause

The certified flight instructor's decision to continue visual flight into deteriorating weather, which resulted in his inadvertent encounter with instrument meteorological conditions and subsequent failure to maintain clearance with terrain.

NTSB narrative

The certified flight instructor (CFI) and his student pilot began the instructional flight from an uncontrolled airport with an elevation of 2,464 feet mean sea level (msl). They planned to fly to a controlled airport (elevation 477 feet msl) located about 27 miles of their departure airport. En route, the pilots climbed to at least 6,000 feet msl and encountered several layers of clouds. At their destination airport, about 30 minutes before to about 30 minutes after the accident, clouds were reported at various elevations including 3,800; 5,000; 6,500 and 7,500 feet msl. The student pilot reported that while en route he observed clouds above, below, and at the airplane's cruise altitude with the visibility from 1/2 to 1 mile. Just before the accident sequence began, the CFI was handling the flight controls while trying to fly around the clouds and collided into a mountain at 5,250-foot msl. Near the time of the accident a witness, located about 2 miles from the crash site, observed thick fog covering the roadway on which he was traveling. The accident location was about 14 miles from the departure airport. Terrain in the vicinity was depicted on the appropriate aeronautical chart with peak elevations between 5,600 and 5,800 feet msl. Following recovery, the airplane was examined, during which no evidence was found of any preimpact malfunction or failure.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
VFR into IMC
First missed decision gate
CFI should have avoided flying into IMC conditions.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

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

Docket documents20

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