Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Easterwood Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Navasota, Texas 77868
Monday, September 25, 2000 1:15 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot received two standard weather briefings for a VFR flight from Houston, Texas to Arlington, Texas. Both briefers informed the pilot that VFR flight was not recommended near Arlington; however, VFR flight would be possible to Waco, Texas. The pilot stated during both briefings that he needed to try and make it to Arlington. The flight departed Houston and diverted to College Station, Texas, due to weather. The flight remained on the ground in College Station for eight hours, during which time the pilot received three weather briefings. During the briefings, the weather briefers attempted to discourage the pilot from attempting the flight due to the en route weather. The pilot again indicated a need to reach his destination by the following morning and, subsequently, filed an IFR flight plan. The flight departed into dark night instrument meteorological conditions and 17 minutes later, the pilot reported to air traffic control (ATC) that the vacuum pump had failed. ATC provided the pilot with radar vectors back to the airport, during which time the pilot indicated that he was having trouble maintaining heading and altitude. Subsequently, ATC commenced a no gyro approach with the pilot. Seven minutes later, the airplane disappeared from radar. Search and rescue was initiated and the airplane was located in a pasture. Examination of the accident site revealed that the airplane impacted the ground in a near vertical nose down attitude. The pilot was issued an instrument rating on August 18, 2000. He had accumulated a total of 30.4 hours of simulated instrument flight time and 2.5 hours of actual instrument flight time. Examination of the airplane revealed no anomalies that would prevent normal operation of the aircraft. The vacuum pump drive shaft was found intact. Rotational scoring was found on components of the attitude indicator, heading indicator and turn and slip indicator.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane due to spatial disorientation. Contributory factors were the clouds, dark night light conditions, the pilot's lack of total instrument flight time, and the pilot's self-induced pressure to complete the flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/25/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 115 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | NAVASOTA |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 77868 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | EASTERWOOD FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CLL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 12 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 135 |
| Airport Elevation | 321 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 53 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 315 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CLL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 321 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1900 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| 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) | 63 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 59 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| 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) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 478 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10026 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 25 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 830 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2001 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5357M |
| NTSB Number | FTW00FA268 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 152 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 152 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15284557 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1675 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 2 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 141 |
| Airframe Hours | 6647 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AIRLINE TRAINING ACADEMY INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 83 NILSON WAY |
| Aircraft Owner City | ORLANDO |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32803 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 5104 SOUTH COLLINS |
| Operator City | ARLINGTON |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 76018 |
| Operator Code | B1QS |
| 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 | CLL |
| Departure City | COLLEGE STATION |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 35 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GKY |
| Destination City | ARLINGTON |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 27 2001 3:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 10 |
| Runway Length | 5159 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |