Pilot Debrief

CESSNA 152 near Ponce, PR — 2009-07-19

Final reportERA09LA413
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Date
2009-07-19
Location
Ponce, PR, USA
Aircraft
CESSNA 152
Registration
N5518P
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Fatal
Fatalities
1

Probable cause

The airplane’s impact with water for undetermined reasons.

NTSB narrative

Shortly after the pilot took off in night conditions from a coastal island airport the airplane impacted the sea. There was neither low-level radar coverage of the area nor any known radio transmissions from the airplane. The pilot had intended to fly along the coast, toward his home airport to the west, but his body was recovered near the mouth of a river south of the departure airport. The only airplane wreckage recovered was a tire. The pilot, who had a reported 162 hours of flight experience, obtained his private pilot certificate about 6 weeks before the accident and purchased the airplane about 4 weeks before the accident. The pilot had delayed his flight for several hours due to en route weather and had declined several offers of ground transport. Weather at the time included a few clouds at 3,000 feet and visibility of 8 miles. Two tenths of the moon was illuminated. The departure airport had one runway, and with the prevailing winds, the pilot likely took off from runway 12, which would have resulted in a turn over water, back toward the west. Given the pilot’s relatively low experience level, the overwater flight path and the dim lighting conditions, spatial disorientation likely resulted. However, because the airplane was not recovered, a mechanical anomaly cannot be excluded.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Spatial disorientation
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have chosen to delay departure until weather improved.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • 5 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents5

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