Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Van, Texas 75790
Monday, October 6, 2003 12:50 CDT

The accident airplane assumed the number two position of a four airplane formation flight that departed toward Tyler, Texas and "encountered an unreported layer of clouds at approximately 1,000 feet msl." The formation flight climbed through a "hole" on top of the cloud layer, leveling off at 3,300 msl. The lead pilot reported the visibility to be approximately 5 to 7 miles with a "misty, milky white undefined layer above. The broken layer below was "well defined with lots of holes to see the ground." Northwest of Tyler, Texas, and "the undefined layer above started to come down toward the broken layer below." The formation flight turned to the right, heading northeast, then north, while still between the layers. The formation flight initiated a shallow climb "through the misty white undefined layer," turning to the west, with an "in-flight visibility of approximately five miles." The formation flight "popped through an unseen layer of clouds, then back into the same white misty mass with decent visibility." The formation flight entered "another unseen layer of thick clouds and heavy rain at 5,500 feet msl. Subsequently, the pilot of airplane number two called lost sight, followed quickly by the pilot of airplane number four. The lead pilot told both pilots to "go lost wingman as they briefed the previous day, get on the attitude indicator, and start a shallow descent." Several witnesses observed the airplane flying overhead with the "wings fluttering" and then suddenly "nose diving" into the ground. One witness reported the weather at the time of the accident to be "very low clouds, poor visibility, and a heavy rain shower that started approximately 10 minutes after the time of the accident." Weather reports obtained from Tyler, Texas reported visibility of 6 statute miles, cloud ceilings of 2,900 feet agl deteriorating to visibility of 1 1/2 statute miles and 1,000 feet broken. Doppler weather radar images indicated very strong weather echoes were present in the vicinity of Van, Texas, near the time of the accident. The non-instrument rated private pilot of airplane number two had accumulated a total of 746-hours total time, of which 18 hours were in the accident make/model aircraft.

The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane due to spatial disorientation. Contributing factors were the low ceilings, rain, and fog.