Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Ogden, Utah 84201
Thursday, December 14, 2000 21:16 MST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

During descent at the end of a dark night VFR cross country flight, the pilot reported that he had his destination in sight and cancelled flight following. Approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds later, the airplane, which was heading west, impacted the east side of a mountain ridge about 6 nautical miles short of the destination airport. The weather conditions in the accident area were high winds from the west with blowing snow. Additionally, moderate to severe turbulence was forecast below 10,000 feet. The pilot's total flight time on the day of the accident was 9 hours 39 minutes. During examination of the airplane wreckage, no pre-impact engine or airframe anomalies that might have affected the airplane's performance were identified.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the pilot's inadvertent VFR flight into IMC, which resulted in a collision with mountainous terrain. Contributing factors were the blowing snow, turbulence, dark night light conditions, and pilot fatigue due to the long flight day.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 12/14/2000
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 2116
Event Time Zone Mountain Standard Time
Event City OGDEN
Event State UTAH
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 84201
Event Date Year 2000
Event Date Month 12
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 --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 2053 Mountain Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 270
Weather Observation Facility ID OGD
Elevation of weather observation facility 4470
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 6
Time Zone of the weather observation MST
Lighting Conditions Night/Dark
Lowest Ceiling Height 11000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 8000
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Thin Broken
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) 36
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 28
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 150
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 7
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30
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) 11234
NTSB Notification Source FAA, NW OPERATIONS CENTER
NTSB Notification Date Dec 15 2000 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1125
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Jan 2 2002 7:11AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Instrument Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N5772C
NTSB Number DEN01FA027
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 Mooney
Aircraft Model M20K
Aircraft Series Identifier M20K
Aircraft Serial Number 25-0841
Certified Max Gross Weight 2900
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 Aug 13 1999 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 260
Airframe Hours 4128
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name GEORGE H. HORSLEY
Aircraft Owner Street Address
Aircraft Owner City SUN VALLEY
Aircraft Owner State ID
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 83354
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 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 MCI
Departure City KANSAS CITY
Departure State KS
Departure Country
Departure Time 1549
Departure Time Zone MST
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code OGD
Destination City
Destination State UT
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Descent
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Dec 1 2001 4:45AM
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 --