Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Benton Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Benton, Illinois 62812
Sunday, July 22, 2001 18:40 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was destroyed on impact with objects and terrain during initial climb. A post impact on-ground fire occurred. A person representing N235LA called flight service for a weather update between Benton, Illinois (H96), and Terre Haute, Indiana. The person stated he was in H96 and during the brief said, "Yeah, you know it looks much better standing on the ground than flying around in it." the briefer said, "okay, well, that could make a difference because if you're in benton, there's nothing between you and terre haute however if you're a hundred miles, if you're in one hotel two which is uhm, uh, where i have a kind of suspicion you may be ... yeah, and there is a little bit of a thunderstorm west of you about twenty miles, do you see buildups to the west? ... yeah, i have a suspicion you're actually at effingham ... uh, those thunderstorms to the west of you is the only thing even vaguely close to your route of flight." A witness observed the airplane taking off to the north from H96. The witness demonstrated the angle the airplane was climbing at. That angle was about 45 degrees. She stated that she heard what she thought was thunder. She saw smoke and called 911. Two other witnesses stated they heard two loud claps of thunder and saw lightning strike in the vicinity of the airport. They reported that after the second clap of thunder, they saw smoke coming from the boat factory. They said that the whole northern sky was black and they could hear thunder. They stated that they did not see the airplane strike the ground. Rain began falling after the accident occured. An on-scene investigation was conducted and no pre-impact anomalies were found. Subsequent to the accident, the weather briefer was decertified, given additional training, and had been reinstated.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, resulting in a stall.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/22/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1840 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Benton |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 62812 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 380024N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0885655W |
| Event Location Airport | BENTON MUNI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | H96 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 280 |
| Airport Elevation | 444 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Partial - limited by briefer |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1848 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 190 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MWA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 472 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.87 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KMWA 222348Z AUTO 00000KT SCT025 SCT095 28/22 A298 |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| 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) | 13143 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 22 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2226 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 18 2003 4:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Springfield, IL, FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N235LA |
| NTSB Number | CHI01FA234 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 177 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17700297 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2350 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert W. Day |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 15464 W Fm 471 Suite 6 |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Antonio |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 78253 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | H96 |
| Departure City | Benton |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1840 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ASW |
| Destination City | WARSAW |
| Destination State | IN |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 24 2003 9:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 36 |
| Runway Length | 2720 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |