Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gettysburg, South Dakota 57442
Tuesady, June 3, 2003 9:42 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane, piloted by an instrument rated private pilot, was destroyed on impact with terrain. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot was fatally injured. No flight plan was on file. A witness stated that he dropped the pilot off at the departure airport for his return flight on June 3, 2003, at about 0730 mountain daylight time. The witness did not see the airplane depart. There was no record of a weather briefing for the accident flight. The flight was reported as missing when it did not return. The pilot had in his possession an expired third class medical certificate with no limitations. His logbook showed an entry for an instrument proficiency check on October 11, 2000, and an entry for a flight review on June 12, 2002. The logbook showed the pilot logged 2.4 hours of actual instrument flight time on October 13, 2000, and logged .4 hours of simulated instrument flight time on June 12, 2002. The airplane had a total time and hobbs time of 2,190.7 hours at that annual inspection. The aircraft impacted terrain nearly vertical. The fuselage was found crushed in an accordion like fashion with the empennage resting on top of the cabin area of the fuselage. The engine was disassembled and the crankshaft was found with a separation on the cheek between the fifth and sixth journals. Engine controls were traced from the cockpit to the engine. Both magnetos produced spark when rotated by hand. The Hobbs meter read 2,224.5 hours on-scene. Flight controls were taken to the coroner's office and were not able to be reviewed on scene. The indicated weather along a direct course was moderate to heavy rain around the time accident. Recorded National Track Analysis Program (NTAP) radar data of a flight in the area the accident site was plotted. The track of the flight was southeast. NTAP data showed that the flight, at 1434:45Z [Zulu], started a climb from a pressure altitude of 5,600 feet to a pressure altitude of 7,700 feet at 1439:33Z. The flight's altitude varied between 7,600 and 7,700 feet of pressure altitude until 1442:09Z. The remaining data points exhibited a pattern in the shape of a descending spiral.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot not maintaining aircraft control in cruise flight leading to his inadvertent spiral. A factor was the pilot's in-flight encounter with moderate to heavy rain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/3/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 942 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Gettysburg |
| Event State | SOUTH DAKOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 57442 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 445954N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1001243W |
| 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 | 953 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 185 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PIR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1742 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 140 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15633 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 4 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 30 2004 12:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Rapid City, SD, FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N630SW |
| NTSB Number | CHI03FA141 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 182Q |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18265516 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2950 |
| 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 | Nov 13 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 33.8 |
| Airframe Hours | 2224.5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Scott M. Radford |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 3504 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lawrence |
| Aircraft Owner State | KS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 66046 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | DIK |
| Departure City | DICKINSON |
| Departure State | ND |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LWC |
| Destination City | LAWRENCE |
| Destination State | KS |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 6 2004 8:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |