Mark Anton Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Dayton, Tennessee 37321
Sunday, February 13, 2000 12:45 EST

The pilot of N9796Y called the Air Traffic Control Specialist at the Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS), for a weather briefing from Dayton, Tennessee, to the Fort Worth, Texas area, for a proposed flight that afternoon. The specialist's issued him a detailed synopsis with emphasis on forecast thunderstorms and IFR conditions. There were AIRMETS (Airman's Meteorological Information) for IFR conditions along the route of flight until 1800 UTC (1400). The specialist told the pilot that the system would take about 24 to 36 hours to clear, and the phone call ended. The pilot again called the AFSS, and he told the specialist that the flight would have to be 'VFR only......I'm...v f r I need to go v f r....' The pilot was issued the AIRMETS, conditions, and forecast information showing IFR conditions, and given a forecast for continued IFR. The specialist told the pilot that it was '...highly improbable (VFR).' According to a witness at the departure airport, who saw the airplane take off, and watched it disappear into the clouds, '...the ceiling appeared to be about 600 to 900 feet high.' Another witness about 3 miles from the crash site said when she saw the airplane it was flying 'low' as it came out of the clouds. She said the engine seemed to 'sound normal,' and the airplane was heading in a southwest direction. The witness said that at the time the weather was, '...overcast, foggy, misting rain.' A police officer that had responded to the reported crash site at 1311, said, 'due to the fog, the visibility was approximately 20 to 30 feet. According to local police records the airplane was found by a ground search at 1649. FAA records indicated that the pilot did not possess an instrument rating at the time of the accident. The pilot's personal logbook listing his flight hours was not recovered. Based on his last application for insurance, dated April 20, 1999, it was estimated that the pilot had about 1,207 hours of total flight time in all aircraft, and 36 hours in this make and model airplane, at the time of the application. The airplane impacted in a heavily wooded area, in rising terrain. The elevation at the crash site was about 1,910 feet mean sea level. The elevation at the departure airport was 855 feet.

the non-instrumented rated pilot elected to takeoff into known adverse weather conditions, which resulted in impact with rising terrain. Factors in this accident were, clouds and low ceilings.