A typical portrait of deteriorating weather shown to pilots in training often goes like this: While you’re flying on a cross-country, lowering clouds and reduced visibility develop, making it unwise to continue to the destination. The choices are clear: Continue on and possibly run into trouble, divert, or retreat to safety. That's a fine way to learn a concept—but it's only a starting point.
The sport pilot was flying his Gibson Mark Manta 503 weightshift trike near Magnolia, Texas, on December 13, 2009. Weather was below visual minimums, according to the National Transportation Safety Board accident summary. The sport pilot, the sole occupant, suffered serious injuries. “In a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator in charge, the pilot reported that while flying near his house, the clouds appeared to extend all the way to the ground. The pilot decided to find a landing area near his house to wait out the deteriorating weather. After selecting a potential parking lot, the pilot elected to perform a low pass to see if the area was suitable for landing. While approaching the far end of the parking lot the pilot observed power lines running perpendicular to his flight path. During an attempt to fly under the wires, the trike impacted a static wire and subsequently the ground.”
At an airport 19 miles away weather was reported: “Wind from 110 degrees at 4 knots, 10 statute miles visibility, overcast at 300 feet, temperature 52 degrees Fahrenheit, dew point 52 degrees F, and a barometric pressure setting of 30.01 inches of mercury.” The accident’s probable cause: “The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from a static wire while maneuvering and his improper decision to fly with a low overcast sky.”
Three days earlier, the weather had not seemed bad enough to require an instrument flight plan for the pilot of a Piper Twin Comanche before departing Sun Ray, Texas, for a flight arriving at night at Port Mansfield’s unattended Charles R. Johnson Airport. But the combination of deteriorating weather and an airport without its own on-field reporting capability proved a lethal mix for a relatively new pilot, who was heavy on ratings but light on experience, and a passenger, the NTSB said. “The pilot had to rely on weather from an airport 23 miles away and further inland. The weather conditions deteriorated while en route (ceiling 1,000 to 1,200 foot overcast, visibility nine to 10 miles, and a closing temperature/dew point spread) so the pilot filed an IFR flight plan with air traffic control. As he approached his destination, the pilot asked ATC if he could descend to 2,000 feet and ‘take a look.’ The controller approved the descent at the pilot’s discretion. ATC later cleared the pilot for a visual approach since no instrument approach procedures were available for the airport. The pilot was instructed to descend to 1,600 feet and to report when the airport was in sight. The pilot acknowledged that he had the airport in sight and there were no further communications with him. Radar data revealed the airplane flew southeast toward the airport at an altitude of 800 feet, then flew beyond the airport before it made a left turn toward the shoreline. The last recorded altitude was 600 feet.
“A witness near the airport heard the airplane flying low over his home and went outside, but he was unable to see the airplane because of heavy haze and reduced visibility. He said the airplane noise traveled toward the shoreline and disappeared. The airplane came to rest inverted in approximately seven to 10 feet of water about 1.6 miles east of the airport.” Probable cause of the accident: “The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance with the water while on approach to land.”
The NTSB report also noted the pilot’s experience, and the accelerated manner in which it had been obtained. The pilot “held a commercial pilot certificate for airplane single- and multiengine land, and instrument airplane. He also held a certified flight instructor rating for airplane single-engine land, multiengine land, and instrument airplane. His last FAA first class medical and student pilot certificate was issued on July 10, 2008. At that time, he reported a total of zero flight hours. This was the pilot’s first application for a flight medical and he had not yet started his training. Further review of the pilot’s FAA airman records revealed that he earned the above listed flight certificates/ratings between September 2008 and March 2009. His last rating was earned on March 18, 2009. At that time, the pilot reported at total of 313.9 hours of flight time, of which 68.6 hours (44 hours in a training device) were in instrument conditions and 63.2 hours were at night.”
Sooner or later every pilot encounters some form of deteriorating weather. It can be a genuine surprise on a nice day. More likely it’s the result of a calculated gamble on a shaky forecast. Here’s hoping that your knowing how some of these adventures turn out will keep you in the clear, or on the ground, when murk tempts others to make murky decisions.
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