Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Watertown Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Watertown, South Dakota 57201
Wednesday, April 26, 2000 21:55 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane impacted the water in about a 60 degree nose down attitude. The flight occurred during marginal VFR weather at night. The pilot had made an unscheduled landing and obtained a weather brief and filed an IFR flight plan. VFR flight was not recommended. About 30 minutes prior to the accident, ATC instructed the pilot to descend at pilot's discretion to 4,000 feet and report the airport in sight for a visual approach. The pilot acknowledged the instructions and descended to 4,000 feet. The pilot made no further transmissions. Radar contact was lost about 11 nautical miles south of the airport at 3,800 feet msl. The pilot had a total of about 12 hours of actual instrument time and a total of about 50 hours of night time. At 2153, the weather was: Winds 200 at 8 knots, 10 miles visibility, light rain showers, few clouds at 1,000 feet, broken at 1,800 feet, overcast at 6,000 feet, temperature 52 degrees F, dew point 50 degrees F, altimeter 29.95. The wreckage path covered a distance of approximately 310 feet, oriented to the north, and in two to three feet of water. The inspection of the airplane revealed no pre-existing anomalies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot failed to maintain aircraft control due to spatial disorientation. Factors relating to the accident were the dark night, clouds, and rain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/26/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2155 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | WATERTOWN |
| Event State | SOUTH DAKOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 57201 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | WATERTOWN MUNICIPAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ATY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 8 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 173 |
| Airport Elevation | 1748 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2153 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 353 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ATY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1748 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1800 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| 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) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| 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) | 935 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 27 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 2 2001 1:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1978Q |
| NTSB Number | CHI00FA123 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 177RG |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 177RG |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 177RG0378 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2800 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 84 |
| Airframe Hours | 3513 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PRIORITY AIR, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 704 AIRPORT RD. |
| Aircraft Owner City | WATERTOWN |
| Aircraft Owner State | SD |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 57201 |
| 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 | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | FSD |
| Departure City | SIOUX FALLS |
| Departure State | SD |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2119 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | ATY |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 2 2001 4:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 35 |
| Runway Length | 6895 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |