in our first weather accident investigation we're going to look into an accident that claimed the life of a passenger in a Cessna 182 during a cross-country flight transitioning Wisconsin to begin let's get some background on the flight it was a cold winter day when a Cessna 182 made a forced emergency landing on a snow-covered secondary road near Owen Wisconsin just after landing the left wing hit trees spending the aircraft out of control doing significant damage to the aircraft and injuring the student pilot and CFI in the front seats a passenger in the back seat was killed what happened that led to this tragedy to answer that question we have to go back to that January day when the accident happened a student pilot purchased the Cessna 182 in Indiana and wanted to relocate the plane to Fairbanks Alaska he obtained the help of a flag instructor to make the long cross-country flight with him the student pilot also had a friend accompanied them on the flight since the student pilot and CFI survived the NTSB was able to get some insight from their perspective regarding the flight the cross-country began at the Griffith Merrillville Airport in Indiana with the first stop at the Wexford County Airport in Cadillac Michigan the plane then departed Cadillac for another fuel stop at Minami Regional Airport across Lake Michigan after refueling there the Cessna launched for the Litchfield Minnesota Municipal Airport it's during that third leg the accident happened and IFR flight plan had been filed for the flight and both the student pilot in the CFI told the NTSB they have obtained weather briefings and were aware they would encounter IFR conditions and possible icing they both added they thought they could get above it the 182 was at 8,000 feet with the CFI now at the control when he asked Minneapolis Center for her climbed at 10,000 feet telling the controller they were picking up rime ice not long after reaching 10,000 the pilot asked for a descent now telling the controller they were picking up quite a bit of rime ice three minutes after reaching 8,000 feet the pilot requested 6,000 feet after reaching 6,000 the pilot told ATC they had a rise in temperature on the Oh 80 but were still picking up quite a bit of ice they received clearance to 4,000 feet in just moments ATC advised the pilot he was showing their altitude at 3500 the pilot replied they were unable to maintain 4,000 the controller revised the pilot of weather conditions at nearby airports and asked if they wanted to deviate the pilot replied they were looking up the weather at oh Claire Wisconsin after the controller issued an altitude alert advising him the minimum IFR altitude in that area was 3000 the pilot reported they were going to stay at 2,500 where they had visual contact with the ground and were diverting to Eau Claire by this point it was the controller who had declared an emergency on behalf of the pilot Minneapolis Center lost radar contact and then lost radio communications with the 182 41 miles east of oh Claire Wisconsin in reviewing the details this was a cross-country flight to take a plane purchased by a student pilot to his base in Alaska to learn more less examine more details revealed in the NTSB report on the accident it says the student pilot stated they knew they were going to be flying into some weather but they were planning on staying above it it's highly unlikely a student pilot would make that decision alone so where would he consider that option the answer comes from another part of the NTSB report which reveals the CFI reported he got a weather prior to the flight and knew they were going to encounter some weather but thought they could get above it so it was obvious during his interview with the NTSB investigators the student pilot was parroting his flight instructor in the weather information the CFI said he had reviewed was an Hermes ulu for moderate icing below 15,000 feet that was active in and around the accident location and in effect for the time of the accident in addition imagery in the forecast icing potential and current icing potential indicated high probabilities of moderate icing including the potential for supercooled large droplets along the route of the flight and during the time to the flight affecting altitudes between 4,000 and 10,000 feet since both the student pilot and the CFI he secured for the flight had seen these weather reports it brings a few questions first knowing these likely dangerous weather conditions would take them into known icing conditions why even launch for the first leg of the flight why not reschedule while those questions are obvious there are other significant questions why continue the flight once you encounter icing conditions why not declare an emergency and ask for vectors from ATC for the closest airport to get the airplane safely on the ground more information revealed in the NTSB report brings more questions for example when the plane launched for its first leg of the flight the plane was 267 pounds over maximum gross weight for takeoff in addition what about the decision to fly over Lake Michigan in a single-engine airplane in those weather conditions the purpose of investigating the accidents in this series and asking these questions is to examine the lessons learned to see how these accidents can be avoided in future flights one lesson learned actually brings another question more than any other time in aviation history we have access to more accurate weather information more quickly and at our fingertips yet this is not resulted in bringing down some weather-related accident rates in other words access to information does not always result in better decisions the six million dollar question is why another lesson learned is the importance of in-flight decision making most pilots do a reasonable job of making go/no-go decisions in obviously bad weather conditions however too often that decision-making seems to deteriorate once the flag is in the air is it get there itís a mission mentality likely a number of human factors are involved another interesting event in this accident leads us to another lesson learned never hesitate to declare an emergency in this tragic accident it was not the pilot who declared the emergency it was the air traffic controller working with the pilot the controller determined the pilot was in an emergency situation whether he declared it or not remember if ATC declares the emergency they do not advise you of it they do not want to make a potentially dangerous situation worse by making the pilot nervous rumors that pilots get in trouble for declaring an emergency are simply not true controllers cannot fly the airplane for you in an emergency but they do have many valuable tools to put to use to help you in this particular accident obviously ice was a serious issue ice and aircraft don't mix it is dangerous even an airplane certified for flight into known icing conditions that equipment is not designed for continued flight and ice but more to protect the plague until you can get out of those icing conditions another important reminder is it takes a long time to get rid of ice general aviation accident reports indicate numerous times pilots thought that simply getting out of icing conditions even temporarily would help rid the playing of ice that had accumulated even if you were to escape to much warmer in-flight conditions ice is not going to instantly melt any more than ice in an ice tray would instantly start melting the moment you removed it from a freezer another lesson learned in this accident is how often the chain of events reveals a lot more than what is usually blamed for the accident in this case it is easy to rack up this fatal accident on an icing encounter however there were many other decisions that were made long before the accident took place as we revealed earlier regarding the fact the plane was well over gross weight when it departed and the fact it was decided to fly over Lake Michigan in a single-engine airplane in those weather conditions after all that is a risky flight to make in a single-engine airplane on a beautiful day in part three of the series asi investigates whether accidents will look into an accident that took place in Virginia involving thunderstorms and a technology
