Investigation Docket - National Transportation Safety Board: https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms
Location: Twin Sisters Mtn, WA
Accident Number: WPR15FA215
Date & Time: 07/11/2015, 0745 PDT
Registration: N9712D
Aircraft: PIPER PA 22-160
Aircraft Damage: Destroyed
Defining Event: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT)
Injuries: 2 Fatal
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General Aviation - Personal
Analysis
The noninstrument-rated private pilot was making a cross-country flight over mountainous terrain. Radar data showed the airplane flying in a northwesterly direction and climbing to an altitude of about 10,500 ft mean sea level (msl). About 38 minutes into the flight, the airplane's altitude started to decrease as it continued in a northwesterly direction, and, 6 minutes later, its altitude was 7,500 ft msl. The last radar return occurred 1 minute later at an altitude of 6,000 ft msl. The wreckage was located at the 6,000-ft level of a mountain ridgeline in the vicinity of the final radar return. Photographs of the wreckage revealed that the damage to the airplane was consistent with controlled flight into the terrain. The wreckage was not recovered from the accident site, and no follow-up examination was accomplished.
Weather radar imagery indicated that rain showers moved into the area from the south-southeast as the airplane approached the accident site. These showers extended from about 19,000 ft msl down to ground level. Although no direct weather observations of the accident location were available, the airplane's descent as it approached the site is consistent with an attempt by the pilot to maintain visual meteorological conditions while operating amidst rain and clouds that likely obscured the terrain.
Probable Cause and Findings
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The noninstrument-rated pilot's continued visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in controlled flight into mountainous terrain.
Findings
Personnel issues
Decision making/judgment - Pilot (Cause)
Environmental issues
Mountainous/hilly terrain - Contributed to outcome (Cause)
Below VFR minima - Effect on personnel (Cause)
Factual Information
History of Flight
Enroute-cruise
VFR encounter with IMC
Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT) (Defining event)
On July 11, 2015, about 0745 Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-22-160, N9712D, was destroyed when it impacted the ridge of Twin Sisters Mountain, about 12 miles north of Hamilton, Washington. The airplane was registered to the private pilot who was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, as a visual flight rules flight. The pilot and single passenger were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight originated from Stehekin, Washington, about 0700.
The airplane was subject of an ALNOT (alert notification) missing aircraft issued on July 14. Initial radar data depicts an airplane track starting at 8,300 feet mean sea level (msl) 16 miles northwest of Stehekin, at 0718 on July 11. The track continues in a northwesterly direction at an altitude about 10,500 feet mean sea level (msl). At 0738, the airplane's track altitude starts to decrease; by 0744 the altitude was 7,500 feet, and continued in the northwesterly direction. The last radar return occurred at 0745, at an altitude of 6,000 feet msl.
The wreckage was located on the morning of July 15, at the 6,000-foot level of the Twin Sisters Mountain ridge line in the vicinity of the final radar return data point.
Pilot Information
Certificate: Private
Age: 56, Male
Airplane Rating(s): Single-engine Land
Seat Occupied: Left
Other Aircraft Rating(s): None
Restraint Used: Unknown
Instrument Rating(s): None
Second Pilot Present: No
Instructor Rating(s): None
Toxicology Performed: Yes
Medical Certification: Class 3 With Waivers/Limitations
Last FAA Medical Exam: 02/28/2014
Occupational Pilot: No
Last Flight Review or Equivalent:
Flight Time: 440 hours (Total, all aircraft)
The pilot, age 62, held a private pilot certificate with a single-engine land rating, issued May 26, 2010, and a third-class airman medical certificate issued February 3, 2014, with the limitation that the holder shall possess glasses for near and intermediate vision. The pilot's log book was not recovered for examination. On the pilot's February 3, 2014, application for his medical certificate he reported 440 total flight hours, with 47 hours within the previous six months.
Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information
Aircraft Manufacturer: PIPER
Registration: N9712D
Model/Series: PA 22-160
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Year of Manufacture: 1959
Amateur Built: No
Airworthiness Certificate: Normal
Serial Number: 22-6624
Landing Gear Type: Tailwheel
Seats: 4
Date/Type of Last Inspection: 06/16/2015, Annual
Certified Max Gross Wt.: 2000 lbs
Time Since Last Inspection:
Engines: 1 Reciprocating
Airframe Total Time: 2400 Hours as of last inspection
Engine Manufacturer: LYCOMING
ELT:
Engine Model/Series: O-320 SERIES
Registered Owner: On file
Rated Power: 160 hp
Operator: On file
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None
The four-seat, high-wing, fixed-gear airplane, serial number 22-6624, was manufactured in 1959. It was powered by a Lycoming O-360 series normally aspirated engine. It was equipped with a fixed pitch propeller. Aircraft records were not located or obtained for examination.
Meteorological Information and Flight Plan
Conditions at Accident Site: Visual Conditions
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: KBLI, 148 ft msl
Observation Time: 0753 PDT
Distance from Accident Site: 23 Nautical Miles
Direction from Accident Site: 270°
Lowest Cloud Condition:
Temperature/Dew Point: 17°C / 14°C
Lowest Ceiling: Broken / 3800 ft agl
Visibility: 10 Miles
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: 5 knots, 135°
Visibility (RVR):
Altimeter Setting: 29.87 inches Hg
Visibility (RVV):
Precipitation and Obscuration: Moderate - Patches
Departure Point: Stehekin, WA (K6S9)
Type of Flight Plan Filed: None
Destination: Eastsound, WA (KORS)
Type of Clearance: None
Departure Time: 0700 PDT
Type of Airspace: Class G
An Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) was located at Skagit Regional Airport (BVS) in Burlington/Mount Vernon, Washington, which was located about 22 miles southwest of the accident location at an elevation of approximately 145 feet. At 0735, BVS reported a variable wind at 5 knots, visibility of 9 statute miles, ceiling broken at 4,200 feet above ground level (agl), overcast cloud base at 5,000 feet agl, temperature of 17° Celsius (C), a dew point temperature of 14°C, and an altimeter setting of 29.88 inches of mercury.
WSR-88D Level-II weather radar base reflectivity imagery from Seattle/Tacoma, Washington (KATX), is located approximately 36 miles southwest of the accident site at an elevation of about 500 feet. Assuming standard refraction and considering the 0.95° beam width for the WSR-88D radar beam, the KATX 1.435° tilt would have "seen" altitudes between about 5,000 and 8,650 feet above msl at the accident location, the KATX 2.404° tilt would have "seen" altitudes between about 8,700 and 12,350 feet above msl at the accident location, the KATX 3.364° tilt would have "seen" altitudes between about 12,400 and 16,000 feet above msl at the accident location, and the KATX 4.292° tilt would have "seen" altitudes between about 15,900 and 19,500 feet above msl at the accident location.
The KATX base reflectivity imagery identified light values of reflectivity coincident with the accident location at the accident time, in a pattern consistent with light rain showers being present above/at the accident site. A review of a loop of KATX base reflectivity imagery indicated that these reflectivity features were moving from the south/southeast.
An Area Forecast that included the Cascade Mountains westward within the state of Washington was issued at 0345. The portion of the Area Forecast directed toward the Cascades forecasted for the accident time: broken clouds at 8,000 feet, cloud tops to FL200 (flight level 20,000 feet msl), scattered light rain showers, isolated thunderstorms and light rain, cumulonimbus cloud tops to FL350.
An Airmen's Meteorological Information (AIRMET) advisory for mountain obscuration issued at 0745 PDT was active for the accident location. Prior to this AIRMET, an AIRMET for mountain obscuration was issued at 0145 PDT and was active for the accident location.
Wreckage and Impact Information
Crew Injuries: 1 Fatal
Aircraft Damage: Destroyed
Passenger Injuries: 1 Fatal
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 2 Fatal
Latitude, Longitude: 48.689444, -121.970278 (est)
The wreckage was located near the summit of Twin Sisters Mountain at 6,000 ft mean sea level (msl). The Whatcom County Sheriff Search and Rescue team provided photos of the accident site and wreckage. The wreckage consisted of two distinct sections within close proximity of one another on the rock face of steep terrain. The area was void of vegetation. The first section contained the cockpit, fuselage, left wing and tail. The second portion of the wreckage consisted of the right wing. The engine had separated from the engine mount and was located in the debris field. The propeller had separated from the engine crankshaft flange, one blade had about 4 inches of the tip missing and the trailing edge was deformed in an elongated s-shape, the other blade was bent aft. The wreckage was not recovered from the accident site and no follow-up examination was accomplished.
MEDICAL & PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
An autopsy was performed on the pilot on July 17, 2015, by the Whatcom County Chief Medical Examiner, Bellingham, Washington. The cause of death was listed as multiple blunt trauma injuries.
The FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) Forensic Toxicology Research Team performed forensic toxicology on specimens from the pilot with negative results for ethanol or listed drugs. Tests for carbon monoxide and cyanide were not performed.
NTSB Identification: WPR15FA215
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, July 11, 2015 in Twin Sisters Mtn, WA
Aircraft: PIPER PA 22-160, registration: N9712D
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
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 July 11, 2015, about 0745 Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-22-160, N9712D, impacted the ridge of Twin Sisters Mountain, about 12 miles north of Hamilton, Washington. The airplane was registered to the private pilot who was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, as a visual flight rules flight. The pilot and single passenger were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight originated from Stehekin, Washington, about 0700.
The airplane was subject of a ALNOT (alert notification) of a missing aircraft issued on July 14. Initial radar data depicts an airplane track starting at 8,300 feet mean sea level (msl) 16 miles northwest of Stehekin, at 0718 on July 11. The track continues in a northwesterly direction at an altitude about 10, 500 feet mean sea level (msl). At 0738, the airplane's track altitude starts to decrease; by 0744 the altitude was 7,500 feet, and continued in the northwesterly direction. The last radar return occurred at 0745, at a altitude of 6,000 feet msl.
The wreckage was located on the morning of July 15, at the 6,000-foot level of the Twin Sisters Mountain ridge line in the vicinity of the final radar return data point.
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OLYMPIA, Wash. - Searchers have located wreckage believed to be a single-engine plane that flew from Minnesota but failed to arrive on Orcas Island on Saturday.
Officials say they have not made a positive identification of the plane or the occupants. It was located east of Bellingham.
Transportation officials say the search has been turned over to the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office. The wreckage site was found using radar coordinates from the aircraft's last known location on Saturday.
Authorities say the plane left International Falls, Minn. with two people aboard and was supposed to land on Orcas Island. A search was initiated to focus on Whatcom County, Washington.
KBJR Television in Duluth reports that the plane, a 1959 Piper PA-22-160, a fixed wing single engine four-seater, is registered to Bob Nevalainen of Ray, Minnesota. He and his wife Gail were expected to make several stops on their trip to Alaska. Their last known stop was in Yakima, WA.
"It's weighing heavy on our minds," Phil Hart, who is the proprietor of the Gateway General Store, said on the phone. "We're praying they are alive and safe."
Family of the missing occupants notified officials of the missing plane Tuesday night.
This missing plane was not connected to the plane crash Sunday near Mazama. Autumn Veatch, 16, survived the crash and walked out of the woods on her own to find help. Her grandparents, Leland and Sharon Bowman, did not survive.
Source: http://www.kare11.com
Bob Nevalainen
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SEATTLE - Searchers on Wednesday found the wreckage of a second private plane that crashed in roughly the same area and within a few hours of the Lynden-bound plane that crashed Saturday in the North Cascades, killing the step-grandparents of a 16-year-old girl who survived.
The second plane was bound for Orcas Island, Wash., from International Falls., Minn., with a man and woman aboard when it vanished from radar Saturday in the same kind of weather conditions as the Lynden-bound plane.
State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe said the family did not notify officials of the second overdue plane until Tuesday night. The family said the missing man and woman were headed to Orcas Island on vacation.
Civil Air Patrol spokeswoman Jessica Jerwa told KOMO News that crews determined that the Orcas Island-bound plane had vanished a few hours before the Lynden-bound plane. Using reliable radar data, they were able to pinpoint a five-square-mile area in the North Cascades where the plane was thought to have crashed.
A few hours later, search planes spotted the wreckage of the plane about 20 miles north of the site where the wreckage of the Lynden-bound plane was found.
Whatcom Sheriff Bill Elfo said the wreckage is scattered across a large debris field at Twin Sister Mountain, about 10 miles east of Acme. He said it appears the plane flew right into the side of the mountain. Ground crews have not yet reached the site.
The names of the couple aboard the Minnesota plane have not been released.
The Lynden-bound plane crashed Saturday afternoon on a rugged, heavily wooded mountainside in the North Cascades while enroute from Kalispell, Mont. Aboard that plane were Leland and Sharon Bowman of Marion, Montana, and their step-granddaughter, Autumn Veatch, 16, of Bellingham.
The Bowmans were killed in the crash, but Veatch survived and managed to hike through the rugged terrain out of the mountains to a remote highway, where she was spotted by a motorist and taken to the nearest town. She was treated at a local hospital and arrived back home Tuesday night.
Source: http://www.komonews.com
WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — A plane flying to Orcas Island with a Minnesota couple on board was reported as missing in Whatcom County.
A plane has been found crashed 10 miles east of Acme, according to the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office.
The plane crashed on a hillside, and crews are having difficulty accessing it in the rugged wildnerness.
Crews are assessing how to reach it.
It is suspected that the plane found crashed is the missing plane, but it has not been officially confirmed.
According to a friend who lives in Lake Kabetogama, the missing pilot is Bob Nevalainen. Nevalainen and his wife Gayle own a single-engine Piper plane.
He said Bob is retired and that Gayle works at the general store in the small town. Both are volunteer firefighters.
The friend told KIRO 7 the couple, in their late 50s or early 60s, left last week for a 6 to 8 week trip to Alaska.
The plane left from International Falls, MN.
Washington State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe said the plane was traveling to Orcas Island and was expected to land on Saturday.
WSDOT said the small plane was not required to file a flight plan and it is not known what time it was expected to land.
LaBoe said WSDOT was notified by the family that the plane was missing late Tuesday.
WSDOT Aviation Emergency Services has launched a search.
The Civil Air Patrol says the search area where the plane was last seen on radar is 5 miles by 5 miles and is within 20 miles of where another plane crashed on Saturday in which a teenage girl from Bellingham survived.
Story, comments and photo: http://www.kirotv.com
Would be interesting to know if: Flight plan was filed?; Flight following used?; ELT was picked up?.
ReplyDeleteReported crash site into Twin Sisters Mountain, commonly called the Twin Sisters, a mountain in the U.S. state of Washington. Part of the Cascade Range, it lies just southwest of Mount Baker. Of its two main peaks, South Twin is higher, with a summit elevation above 7,004 feet. The summit of North Twin is above 6,644 feet.
ReplyDeleteUnless this PIC from MN had mountainous terrain training and experience, his selected route in ideal conditions would have been a challenge.