Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Athens, Tennessee 37303
Wednesday, October 18, 1989 19:02 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
DRG AN IFR FLT AT 8000' MSL IN IMC CONDS, THE PLT WAS CLEARED BY ATC TO DSCND & MAINT 4000'. HE ACKNOWLEGED. APRX 2 MIN LATER, HE WAS ADZD THAT RADAR SVC WAS TERMINATED & WAS TOLD TO CONTACT APCH CONTROL ON ANOTHER FREQ. THE PLT'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT WAS UNINTELLIGIBLE. SUBSEQUENTLY, CONTACT WITH THE ACFT WAS LOST & IT CRASHED IN A STEEP DSCNT. BEFORE THE ACDNT, A WITNESS HEARD THE ACFT CIRCLING OVERHEAD. INITIALLY, HE WAS UNABLE TO SEE THE ACFT DUE TO CLOUDS, THEN HE SAW THE ACFT COME OUT OF THE CLOUDS IN A STEEP DIVE. HE SAID THE NOSE OF THE ACFT APPEARED TO PULL UP JUST BEFORE IMPACT. RADAR DATA SHOWED THAT THE ACFT WAS IN A SPIRALING DSCNT BEFORE IT CRASHED. THE PLT HAD JUST RCVD AN INSTRUMENT RATING ON 9/20/89. THIS WAS HIS 1ST KNOWN FLT IN ACTUAL INSTRUMENT CONDS SINCE HE HAD RCVD HIS NEW RATING. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT WAS FOUND, ALTHOUGH IT WAS BADLY DAMAGED BY IMPACT.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE IN INSTRUMENT FLIGHT CONDITIONS DUE TO SPATIAL DISORIENTATION, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT DESCENDING SPIRAL. LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE IN THE TYPE OF OPERATION (ACTUAL INSTRUMENT CONDITIONS) WAS CONSIDERED TO BE A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/18/1989 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1902 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | ATHENS |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 37303 |
| Event Date Year | 1989 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2250 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 48 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TYS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 853 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 36 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 600 |
| 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) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 500 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| 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) | 1449 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 18 1989 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2045 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 39796 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 1:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5005S |
| NTSB Number | MIA90FA014 |
| 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 | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28R-200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28R-200 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28R35729 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2650 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 10 1988 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 178 |
| Airframe Hours | 5239 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DELTA PLUS INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 108 SOUTH CHURCH STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | JACKSON |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 38301 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | DELTA PLUS,INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 108 S CHURCH ST,BOX 1179 |
| Operator City | JACKSON |
| Operator State | TN |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 38301 |
| 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 | MOR |
| Departure City | MORRISTOWN |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2223 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | HDI |
| Destination City | CLEVELAND |
| Destination State | TN |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| 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 | -- |