Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mcgee/Tyson Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fontana, North Carolina 28713
Wednesday, May 5, 1999 19:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot made radio contact with approach control, level at 8,500 feet, and was advised that the tops of the clouds were at 7,000 feet msl, and that the base of the clouds in the area were at 3,400 feet msl. The pilot said, '...I can see the...seven thousand footers I've got uh ground contact.' The controller said, '...roger are you familiar with the mountainous terrain.' The pilot answered, 'yes sir.' About 8 minutes after initial contact, radio and radar contact were simultaneously lost. The airplane impacted in mountainous rising terrain, in a heavily wooded area. Due to bad weather, extremely rough terrain, and the remoteness of the crash site, ground searchers could not reach the wreckage for a couple of days. The following exchange occurred between two ATC controllers referance weather conditions at Knoxville and N30DS's position, '...[he is] tryin to dodge clouds and stuff...I don't see any breaks...well he says he sees the ground...well good luck (unintelligible) he better descend if he can because there's no breaks out this way but oh well that's for him to decide....' The airframe, engine, and propeller were examined and no discrepancies were found. Control cable continuity was confirmed to all the flight controls
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot continued visual flight into know weather conditions which resulted in reduced visibility, and the subsequent in-flight collision with rising terrain. Factors in this accidents were clouds and low ceiling in the accident area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/5/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1945 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | FONTANA |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 28713 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | MCGEE/TYSON |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TYS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 30 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 125 |
| Airport Elevation | 981 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1953 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TYS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 981 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3600 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1457 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 6 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 10:10AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N30DS |
| NTSB Number | MIA99FA150 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28761 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2075 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 6 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50 |
| Airframe Hours | 4274 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FRANK C. THOMAS [CO- OWNER] |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 12230 BRIGHTON CT |
| Aircraft Owner City | KNOXVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 37922 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | JAX |
| Departure City | JACKSONVILLE |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1630 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DKX |
| Destination City | KNOXVILLE |
| Destination State | TN |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 12:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |