Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rienzi, Mississippi 38865
Sunday, August 19, 2001 3:43 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with trees and terrain during a night flight that departed at 0249 central daylight time. The private pilot was recently certificated. Weather reporting facilities indicated the possibility of IFR conditions in the vicinity of the accident site about the time of the accident, and it was a moonless, dark night. GPS data retrieved from a hand-held unit recovered from the wreckage indicate nearly constant heading fluctuations throughout the flight, depicting a scalloped flight path and eventual 360-degree turn to the right at the end of the data set. Examination of the accident site showed the airplane rested in a nose-low attitude adjacent to two trees. Wreckage debris was scattered over am area approximately 70 feet land and 35 feet wide. The wreckage path was orientated on a 240 degree magnetic heading. The engine assembly was buried several inches into the ground. The empennage section was stacked on top of the cockpit and passenger sections of the airframe at the point of ground impact. Examination of the air frame and the engine assembly revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunction or a component failure.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot experienced spatial disorientation, which resulted in an in-flight loss of control and subsequent collision with trees and terrain. A factor was the dark night condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/19/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 343 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rienzi |
| Event State | MISSISSIPPI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38865 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 344542N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0883803W |
| 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 | 353 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 190 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TUP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 346 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 24 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1600 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 800 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1500 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| 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) | 12024 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 22 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1548 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 25 2002 9:28AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | JACKSON |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N57297 |
| NTSB Number | ATL01FA094 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-151 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7415036 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2325 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 21 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50 |
| Airframe Hours | 6443 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Muscle Shoals Aviation Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 2036 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Muscle Shoals |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 35662 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Michael T. McCarthy |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 122 Casey Lane |
| Operator City | Florence |
| Operator State | AL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 35633 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | M97 |
| Departure City | Tunica |
| Departure State | MS |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 249 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MSL |
| Destination City | Muscle Shoals |
| Destination State | AL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 31 2002 1:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |