NTSB Identification: CEN13FA082
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, December 01, 2012 in Correctionville, IA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 06/19/2013
Aircraft: BEECH P35, registration: N1566Z
Injuries: 2 Fatal, 1 Serious.
NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The commercial pilot was receiving flight-following services. He advised an air traffic controller that he had the airport in sight, and the controller acknowledged and told the pilot that radar services were terminated. The airport had an unimproved grass strip and runway lights. Two witnesses who lived next to the airport said thick fog quickly enveloped the area shortly before the accident. Another witness said that visibility had dropped to less than 1/4 mile and that he heard the airplane fly low over his house but could not see it. On the approach to land, the airplane struck trees and terrain about 1/4 mile northeast of the airport. A postimpact fire ensued. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The airplane was instrument equipped and the commercial pilot held an instrument rating.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot’s failure to perform a go-around after encountering thick fog at night.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On December 1, 2012, about 1950 central standard time, a Beech P35, N1566Z, collided with trees and terrain while maneuvering near a private airstrip near Correctionville, Iowa. The pilot was seriously injured and two passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Night, instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The local flight originated from Grand Island, Nebraska, at an undetermined time.
The pilot and a passenger had flown from Correctionville to Grand Island, Nebraska, earlier that day to pick up a second passenger. During the latter portion of the return flight to Correctionville, the pilot received flight following services from the Sioux City (SUX), Iowa, Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON). At 1938, the pilot advised SUX TRACON that he had the Correctionville Airport in sight, and radar services were terminated. The airplane struck trees and terrain about 1/2-mile northwest of the airport. A post-impact fire ensued. A motorist and his wife, who were driving south on the highway, saw a fire on the hillside. When they slowed down to investigate, they came upon the pilot on the side of road and called 9-1-1.
Two residents whose home borders and faces the airstrip said they saw the pilot depart earlier that day. They were standing in their front yard about 1930 when thick fog quickly enveloped the area and they were unable to see the airstrip which was about 125 feet away. A resident, who was visiting friends about a mile east of the accident site, said the weather was clear at 1800, but fog moved in soon thereafter and visibility dropped to less than 1/4-mile. He heard an airplane pass low over the house. The engine was “running fast” and the airplane was moving slowly because it took “awhile to pass over the house.” He said he never saw, but only heard, the airplane.
The Woodbury County Sheriff said first responders were hampered by darkness and fog that reduced visibility to about 50 feet. He said the reduced visibility contributed to an accident involving a Correctionville ambulance that was transporting the pilot to a hospital and a Moville police car. A second ambulance was summoned to transport the pilot.
PERSONNEL (CREW) INFORMATION
The pilot, age 70, held a commercial pilot certificate with airplane single-engine, multiengine, and instrument ratings, dated February 28, 2010. He also held a second class airman medical certificate, dated December 13, 2011, with the restriction, “Must have available glasses for near vision.” The medical certificate was valid for 12 months. At the time the medical certificate was issued, the pilot estimated his total flight time as 2,400 hours.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
N1566Z (serial number D-6868), a model P35, was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation in 1961. It was powered by a Continental IO-470-N engine (serial number 52117-D-N), rated at 260 horsepower, driving a McCauley 2-blade, all-metal, constant speed propeller (model number 2A36C23-P-CE).
According to the airplane maintenance records, the last annual and 100-hour inspections were performed on August 30, 2012. At that time the tachometer read 1,812 hours; the airframe had accrued 6,091.6 hours and the engine had accrued 6,079.8 hours. The engine was overhauled on March 17, 1993, at a tachometer time of 435.3 hours, and had accrued 1,338.5 hours since major overhaul. The altimeter, encoder and transponder were certified for flight in IFR (instrument flight rules) conditions on June 27, 2011.
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION
Weather recorded at the Sioux Gateway Airport-Colonel Bud Day Field (SUX), Sioux City, Iowa, located about 30 miles west of the accident site, was as follows:
1852: Wind, 120 degrees at 3 knots; visibility, 7 statute miles;; sky condition, clear; temperature, 4 degrees Celsius (C.); dew point, 3 degrees C.; altimeter, 29.81 inches of mercury.
2036: Wind, calm; visibility, 5 statute miles, mist; sky condition, few clouds , 300 feet; temperature,2 degrees C.; dew point, 1 degree C.; altimeter, 29.83 inches of mercury.
AERODROME INFORMATION
Correctionville Airport is an unpublished and unimproved airstrip, located about 2 miles south of the town of Correctionville. It has a single runway, aligned on a magnetic heading of about 140-320 degrees. The grass runway is about 2,000 feet long and 120 feet wide, and is equipped with runway lights. It is situated at an elevation of about 1,200 feet above mean sea level.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
The accident site was located about 1 mile southwest of the town of Correctionville in the 1700 block of Highway 31, and about 1/4-mile northeast of the airstrip. The wreckage was in a field west of and adjacent to Highway 31. The terrain sloped upward with multiple embankments. The debris path was approximately 200 to 250 feet in length, and aligned on a magnetic heading of 324°. The initial impact point was a small group of trees at an elevation of 1,122 feet. A portion of the right wing and extended right main landing gear and portions of the right fuel bladder were at the base of the trees. An odor of fuel was noted.
After striking the trees, the airplane impacted a terraced embankment at an elevation was 1,156 feet. The airplane came to rest on a magnetic heading of 062°. The engine separated from the airplane at the firewall and was next to the fuselage, pointed in the opposite direction. The propeller separated from the engine at the flange. Both blades showed s-bending and chordwise scratches.
The main body of wreckage consisted of the fuselage aft of the firewall, the empennage, and the left wing. Extensive fire damage was noted. The landing gear was down and the flaps were extended, the amount of which was not determined. Control continuity was partially established. The two passengers were located next to and aft of the trailing edge of the left wing. The altimeter faceplate, bearing the Kollsman window, was set to 29.80 inches of mercury. No other anomalies were noted with the airplane during the postaccident examination.
MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
The pilot succumbed to his injuries on February 11, 2013. Because more than 30 days had elapsed since the accident, his injuries did not meet the criteria for “fatal injury” as defined in Title 49 CFR Part 830.2. Autopsy and toxicology protocols were not performed.
TESTS AND RESEARCH
SUX TRACON confirmed that N1566Z was tracked as a VFR primary target with no transponder-encoder data. They advised that radar detection of an airplane at low altitude was unavailable for that area. Correctionville Airport is not depicted on the TRACON radar or on sectional charts.
CORRECTIONVILLE, Iowa (KTIV) - It's been nearly 3 months since the plane crash in Correctionville claimed the lives of three men. But, their friends and family say the men meant so much to the community that they're still dealing with the void they left behind.
"These three men were pillars of our community," Kevern Koskovich said.
Koskovich was close friends with all three who died in the crash.
"They were three of the finest gentlemen you could ever meet, honest, honorable," Koskovich said.
The men were doing what they were known for that fateful night of the crash, helping the community, by picking up supplies for the grand opening of a new grocery store. It was a project they all pushed for since the other local grocery had burned down.
"He was always there to help, if the community needed something, if an individual needed something Jim would be there to support them," Gaylen Goettsch said.
"In a small town everybody knows everybody and with somebody like Gaylen, Correctionville in particular, he was just instrumental in everything," Bill Forbes said.
"It was hard to understand what had happened," Deb Jeffrey said.
And like Gaylen Knaack had done so many times before to fundraiser for community projects, organizers put together a pancake breakfast and silent auction to benefit the Knaack's family and the other two victims'.
"It is the community's way of showing them love and respect," Koskovich said.
Lee Schroeder's brother says he's touched that so many people have reached out to him.
"I guess if there's anything positive that comes out from this, is the community's support, situations like this are never great. Just to see the kind of people, what Lee did to the community as far as the friendships has been amazing," Patrick Schroeder said.
And while the communities that knew these men are still grieving their loss, they say their spirit will uplift them.
"Each of these men in their own way left a guide map for all of us to follow," Koskovich said.
Story and Video: http://www.ktiv.com
NTSB Identification: CEN13FA082
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, December 01, 2012 in Correctionville, IA
Aircraft: BEECH P35, registration: N1566Z
Injuries: 2 Fatal,1 Serious.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On December 1, 2012, about 1950 central standard time, a Beech P35, N1566Z, collided with trees and terrain while maneuvering for landing at a private airstrip near Correctionville, Iowa. The pilot was seriously injured and two passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The local flight originated from Grand Island, Nebraska, at undetermined time.
The pilot and a passenger had flown from Correctionville to Grand Island, Nebraska, earlier that day to pick up the second passenger. The pilot was receiving flight following advisories from air traffic control (ATC). At 1936, the pilot advised ATC he had the airport in sight. Radar services were then terminated. The airplane struck trees and terrain about 1/2-mile northeast of the airport. A post-impact fire ensued.
The sheriff told FAA inspectors that when he arrived on scene shortly after the accident, there was a thick blanket of fog and visibility was only 50 feet.
The on-scene investigation established control continuity, and extension of the landing gear and flaps.
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