Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Greenwood County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bradley, South Carolina 29819
Friday, January 7, 2005 18:56 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The private pilot was on a visual flight rules (VFR) night flight over a sparsely populated area; the airplane crashed about 9 miles from the departure airport. Wreckage and impact information was consistent with a steep-angle, high-speed descent. No evidence of mechanical malfunction was observed. Weather conditions included mid to high-level cloud coverage with ceilings broken at 2,200 feet above ground level and overcast at 3,400 feet above ground level. Moon phase was a waning crescent with 11 percent of visible disk illuminated. Review of these data by a Safety Board senior meteorologist revealed that the moon was below the horizon at the time of the accident and would have been obscured by the mid to high-level cloud cover. According to FAA advisory circular (AC) 60-4A "Pilot's Spatial Disorientation," "Surface references and the natural horizon may at times become obscured, although visibility may be above visual flight rule minimums. Lack of natural horizon or surface reference is common ... especially at night in extremely sparsely populated areas or in low visibility conditions. A sloping cloud formation, an obscured horizon, a dark scene spread with ground lights and stars, and certain geometric patterns of ground lights can provide inaccurate visual information for aligning the aircraft correctly with the actual horizon. The disoriented pilot may place the aircraft in a dangerous attitude."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's loss of control of the airplane due to spatial disorientation, which resulted in an uncontrolled descent and collision with trees and the ground. A factor was the dark night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/7/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1856 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Bradley |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29819 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340334N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0821433W |
| Event Location Airport | Greenwood County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KGRD |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 12.1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 631 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1816 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 26 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KGRD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 631 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2200 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| 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) | 30.22 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KGRD 071556Z AUTO 24004KT 10SM FEW060 SCT110 |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 4 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21064 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 7 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2036 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA - Columbia FSDO - 13 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2823H |
| NTSB Number | ATL05FA041 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7990474 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5713.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Cherokee One, LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 1527 |
| Aircraft Owner City | McCormick |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 29835 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | James Melvin Strom |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | KS19 |
| Departure City | McCormick |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KGRD |
| Destination City | Greenwood |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 17 2007 3:25PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |