Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
White Cloud, Michigan 49349
Friday, April 5, 1985 3:00 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
AT ABOUT 0250 EST, CONTROL TOWER PSNL AT THE GRAND RAPIDS ARPT HEARD A 'MAYDAY' CALL FROM N23TC, BUT WHEN THEY TRIED TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE ACFT, THERE WAS NO RESPONSE. THE CALL WAS REPEATED SVRL TIMES. A CHECK AT THE LOCAL ARPT REVEALED THERE WAS AN ACFT MISSING. A SEARCH WAS INITIATED, BUT THE ACFT WAS NOT FND UNTIL THE FOLLOWING EVENING. IT HAD CRASHED WHILE IN A STEEP NOSE DOWN, SHALLOW LEFT BANK ATTITUDE. PIECES OF WRECKAGE WERE FND UP TO 300 FT FROM WHERE THE ACFT IMPACTED THE GROUND. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE/MALFUNCTION WAS FND. HOWEVER, THE NON-INSTRUMENT RATED PLT WAS FLYING IN ADVERSE WX WITH LOW CEILINGS & VISIBILITY. ABOUT 25 MI SSE AT GRAND RAPIDS, MI, THE 0251 EST WAS WAS, IN PART: 300 FT OVERCAST & 1.5 MI VISIBILITY WITH FOG. PRIOR TO THE FLT, THE PLT HAD BEEN CELEBRATING IN A SALOON. TOXICOLOGY CHECKS OF HIS LUNG TISSUE FLUID & BILE SHOWED ALCOHOL LVLS OF 0.104% & 0.128%, RESPECTIVELY.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/5/1985 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 300 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | WHITE CLOUD |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 49349 |
| Event Date Year | 1985 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 251 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 200 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GRR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 794 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 300 |
| 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) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 5 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2319 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 5 1985 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 29771 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 9:15AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N23TC |
| NTSB Number | CHI85FA156 |
| 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 | 172N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172N |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17269241 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 24 1984 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 65 |
| Airframe Hours | 1635 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | |
| Aircraft Owner State | |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | CHARLES HATHAWAY |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1829 N. STATE STREET |
| Operator City | BIG RAPIDS |
| Operator State | MI |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 49307 |
| 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 | 77D |
| Departure City | BIG RAPIDS |
| Departure State | MI |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 230 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | 0 |
| Runway Width | 0 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |