Bert Mooney Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Butte, Montana 59701
Friday, December 16, 2005 17:50 MST

When the pilot, who was not instrument rated, departed his point of origin, the area forecast for his destination was indicating the possibility of marginal VFR and locally IFR conditions due to fog, snow showers, and low clouds. He did not make use of FAA weather updating services while en route, and when he arrived in the area near his destination, it was already dark, and the weather at the airport had deteriorated to one-half mile visibility, freezing fog, moderate snow, and a ceiling of 800 feet broken. As he maneuvered toward the airport through mountainous/hilly terrain, he inadvertently entered IFR conditions, and then reversed course in order to return to VFR conditions. During his attempt to maneuver through the area of a mountain pass, the aircraft collided with trees on a steep snow-covered slope.

The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the terrain during low-level maneuvering at night. Factors included the pilot’s improper in-flight decision to continue into an area that was forecasted to possibly contain snow, fog, and low ceilings. Additional factors included his failure to obtain a weather update while en route, a dark night, mountainous terrain, trees, snow showers, fog, and the pilot’s inadvertent flight into instrument flight rules conditions while on a visual flight rules flight.