Accident Case Study: Cross-Country Crisis

it's the morning of January 30th 2009 the Seneca owner pilot has invited several friends on a flight from the Chicago area to Raleigh Durham North Carolina and Clearwater Florida the flight is ready to depart when another pilot notices five passengers on board the six seat Seneca and expresses concern that the airplane will be overweight he speaks to the Seneca pilot about this and also urges him to obtain a weather briefing and file a flight plan but the 2200 hour non instrument-rated pilot shrugs off the concerns he assures his friend that he is checked the weight and balance and it is ok he promises to get a weather briefing and file a flight plan from the air and so the Seneca - takes off VFR for the 558 nautical mile trip to Raleigh you the National Transportation Safety Board reviewed the Senecas weight and balance at takeoff the airplane was more than 300 pounds overweight and three point four inches aft of allowable CG if indeed the pilot calculated the weight and balance as he told his friend he had to know the aircraft would be operating outside its envelope two hours after departure whether south of the Senecas flight path has deteriorated about 100 miles southeast huntington airport is reporting winds from the Northwest at three knots in 3/4 mile visibility light snow is falling under a thousand foot overcast meanwhile 150 miles west of Huntington at Louisville Kentucky snow is reported with visibility varying between two and a half and four miles and 79 miles northeast of Huntington at Parkersburg West Virginia light snow is falling in four miles visibility about half an hour later a special report is issued for heavy snow and 1/4 mile visibility but the pilot is unaware and continues the flight you a low-pressure system associated with a crippling ice storm gripping Eastern Texas northern Arkansas and Kentucky earlier in the week had begun tracking northeast pumping warm moist air on top of the colder airmass that was already in place from midnight through 6:00 a.m. light snow had been reported in a widespread area west and east of the route radar for that period showed bands of precipitation moving from Michigan and Illinois into Indiana Ohio Kentucky West Virginia and Pennsylvania at departure Chicago and Raleigh reported ten miles visibility and clear skies but the weather system that prevailed overnight continued into the day in spite of some scattered VFR areas the good weather reported for Raleigh and the first half of the 500-mile route might have lulled the non instrument-rated pilot into a false belief that VFR prevailed along the entire route that morning whatever the reason he did not contact flight service as planned a grave mistake considering the nasty weather in store you three hours into the flight November 8 0 4 7 Charlie catches up with the weather and marginal visual conditions give way to IMC the pilot now in over his head has trouble controlling the airplane near tri-state Airport in Huntington West Virginia the airplane becomes critically low on fuel it is snowing the ceiling is 1,000 foot broken and the visibility is 2 miles my date my date made it so the car is 0 for 7 traveling with I'm flying VFR and I roll this fuel and I need to help you the pilot finally reached out for help but by then it was already too late the NTSB determined the airplane was using 24 gallons of fuel per hour if the tanks were full at takeoff they would run dry after 3 hours and 45 minutes even before the Mayday call the situation was grim as fuel became an issue and clear skies gave way to increasing clouds the pilot quickly ran out of options Stud running in mountainous terrain in search of fuel so therefore 7-charles radar contact eight miles south east of the huntington airport the Class B airspace is IFR at this time the say 1,000 broken there's buddy two miles with light snow if you give me a back foot strike on the land over though Sarika four seven surely you capable of IFR flight yes and Seneca four seven Charlie would like and ifr clearance to the Huntington Airport yes please so two four seven charlie squawks zero one six three could you tell me whether they had a cook behind me so therefore essentially affirmative the airport is behind you about three miles okay I can tell you see the Kahala right now Seneca 47 sharp Seneca 47 Charlie low altitude alert make sure you maintain ground contacts I love all complex tzedakah for Senator Lee you're about a mile and a half final for runway three zero it's about two o'clock and a mile and a half and Seneca for Cemetery you're going back and forth it's a falcon 11 ten o'clock eleven o'clock now and one you know how long I can go so the four cents earlier below my minimum vectoring altitude now the field elevation is 820 and Seneca for seven Charlie on your current heading you're about to fly over the airport now you still have ground contact night before century how much fuel do you have now not much circa four seven Charlie climb and maintain me to climb up in the maintain 2,500 and we'll give you a surveillance approach to runway 3-0 maintain 2,500 and fly a heading of one seven zero the Seneca is switched over to a different controller for the surveillance approach Seneca for seven Charlie this is your Huntington final controller hear me okay I hear they own and of course haven't tried to Roger understand this B vector to the surveillance final approach course throwing away three yield speed no gyro approach I just give you turns the publish minimum descent altitude I gave you a momentarily when you're able to turn the left extend half standard rate left heard Santa Kippur seven-shot are you're correcting nicely now stop your turn stop the turn the wings level and maintain 2500 said of course 7 charlie again if you hear Huntington ident you're still in the turn stop turn go wings level Seneca four seven Charlie go wings level and hold one heading Seneca four seven Charlie in that heading 1 to zero sliding one to jump low altitude alert checked out davidís trees there their own thing once is it a genocide what signs of it the controller attempts to keep the pilot on a heading and altitude but the pilot has trouble complying I think it approaches here could you give me a back foot for the output Roger I'm going to tell you on about a four mile final so you have a straight into visibility is not real good at anything on account of snow in Seneca for seven Charlie nobody three zero does not have approach lights on it but the runway has been broomed and plowed you'll see the dark strip in the snow and the runway lights are up all the way Tonica four seven Charlie heading a03 zefnep left turn heading a zero three zero you appear to be in a right turn again heading a zero three zero when you're able it's like a little presume after numerous heading and altitude Corrections the controller attempts one final line up of the Seneca for runway 3-0 now descend to your minimum descent altitude the publish men of G sine alpha Q's one three zero zero maintain at least 1,300 or above 1,300 do not descend below 1300 1300 or setting three zero zero three zero zero turn right in a right turn turn right getting three two zero three twenty three two zero in a right turn good up hitting a three one zero rollout heading three zero zero not heading three zero zero you're now going the wrong way heading is three zero zero climb that's where you have VFR contact for the ground I see you're ended gallop it indicates you're climbing sanika 47 charlie medica 47 Charlie had a year Seneca force that macaulay Hanukkah de Burgh did you hear me I'd in Seneca 47 Charlie rid of contact is long Seneca for seven Charlie's hiked average in the blind if you hear me climb immediately climb and maintain at least 2900 Seneca for seven Charlie do you hear me ident progression for Center Charlie if you hear me please respond the NTSB offered these sobering facts in their preliminary investigation on January 30th 2009 at 1336 Eastern Standard Time a piper pa-31 turbo November 8 0 4 7 charlie was destroyed when it struck high-tension power lines and collided with terrain while maneuvering for landing at the Huntington tri-state Airport the certificated private pilot a certificated student pilot and four passengers were fatally injured instrument meteorological conditions prevailed unfortunately no amount of analysis can change the outcome of this accident but even though few of us would think of launching on a 500-mile VFR cross-country over mountains without a preflight briefing or a check of the weather and route we can still take important lessons from this tragedy ask yourself have I ever let external pressure influence me to hurry up take shortcuts or press on have I ever pushed fuel reserves to the limits am I really prepared to turn around or land when the weather does not cooperate do I know and respect the limitations of my own piloting skill and experience heed the warning signs act on them and avoid tragedy

Channel: Air Safety Institute

Views: 853,066

Rating: 4.8842583 out of 5

Keywords: SenecaACS, Seneca, ATC, ACS, accident, case, study, aopa, asi, air, safety, institute, fule, management, vfr, ifr, flight, conditions, vectors, crash, radio, lost, contact, winter, snow, cross, country, crisis

Id: _wsa3vhnowk

Length: 13min 26sec (806 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 15 2010

Reddit Comments

[u/UpTheShipBox]

I haven't seen this series posted here before. While they're not quite as high production as ACI, they're well made, and focus on the technical aspect.

[u/CCFM]

As a GA pilot, I always liked these because they are really helpful for both improving your own airmanship and reminding you that you aren't invincible.

[u/Decsolst]

Thank you for sharing!