Date & Time:
Aug 28, 2006 at 1440 LT
Type of aircraft:
Cessna 401
Operator:
Jason S. Christie
Registration:
N408JC
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Private
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Wichita Falls - Hazard - Middleburg
MSN:
401-0075
YOM:
1969
Country:
United States of America
Region:
North America
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
1
Pax on board:
6
Pax fatalities:
6
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
7
Aircraft flight hours:
6387
Circumstances:
The airplane departed on a long cross country flight, with thunderstorms and rain squalls along the general route. Approaching the destination airport, the airplane entered a rain squall, stalled, and impacted the ground in an almost vertical descent. Other than the onboard weather radar being previously removed for maintenance, there were no mechanical anomalies noted with the airplane. The pilot, whose logbook was not recovered, was not instrument qualified. Although he was recently observed flying four to five times weekly, when the pilot applied for a multi-engine rating about 3 1/2 months earlier, he indicated 107 hours of total flight experience.
Probable cause:
The non-instrument-rated pilot's continued flight into instrument meteorological conditions, and his subsequent failure to maintain airspeed which resulted in an inadvertent stall. Contributing was the instrument meteorological conditions.
Final Report:
N408JC.pdf101.02 KB
