Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Lexington, Virginia 24450
Wednesday, August 30, 2000 17:30 EDT

The non-instrument rated pilot was conducting a cross county flight from New York to Florida. Radar data revealed the airplane was traveling southwest and was level at 8,700 feet, when it made a right turn at 1727:42. The airplane continued to the right and at 1727:47, the airplane's altitude indicated 8,500 feet. The airplane descended to 8,300 feet at 1727:51, and 5,300 feet at 1728:05. There were no further radar returns observed from the airplane. Witnesses reported observing the airplane break-up in-flight, before the main wreckage impacted a sidewalk. All major portions of the airplane were located with-in 1/4 to 1/2 miles of the main wreckage. Weather information obtained for the flight indicated an area of instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions in the immediate vicinity of the accident site. A larger area of marginal visual meteorological conditions surrounded the IFR area. There was no record that the pilot had received a pre-flight weather briefing prior to the flight. The airplane's most recent annual inspection was performed 13 months prior to the accident. The pilot's estimate total flight experience was about 400 hours. He pilot had logged 2 hours of 'actual' and 36 hours of 'simulated' instrument flight experience; all of which had been logged about 10 years prior to the accident.

The pilot's attempted VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions that resulted in spatial disorientation. A factor in this accident was the pilot's inadequate preflight planning.