NTSB Factual Report

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On October 13, 2009, at 1141 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 182, N6202A, collided with terrain approximately 14 miles east-northeast of Pryor, Montana. The private pilot, who was also the registered owner of the airplane, was operating it under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The pilot and one passenger were killed. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The pilot departed from the Sheridan County Airport, Sheridan, Wyoming, about 1100, and was destined for Laurel Municipal Airport, Laurel, Montana.

According to a family member of the pilot, the pilot and passenger had departed from Laurel at 0700 the morning of the accident to conduct work in Sheridan. They landed about 0815. The pilot had contacted a family member and advised that the return flight would take longer than normal due to poor weather conditions along the route of flight. They departed from Sheridan about 1100. When the airplane did not arrive, family members contacted authorities to initiate a search for the airplane. Due to low visibility and cloud layers on the day of the accident, the searchers were limited in their aerial search capabilities. The wreckage was located by aerial search and rescue volunteers the morning of October 14.

An airport lineman working at the Sheridan airport the morning of the accident reported that the accident airplane landed between 0800 and 0900. The pilot requested that the fuel tanks be fueled to capacity. The pilot and passenger then left the airport and returned about 1045. The airplane departed at 1100. According to the lineman, who was also a private pilot, “the weather conditions were poor” the day of the accident, with limited visibility and cold temperatures.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot, age 58, held a private pilot certificate that was issued on September 20, 2004. He held a first-class medical certificate that was issued on September 10, 2009, and the certificate did not hold any limitations or wavers. Investigators recovered a pilot logbook from the accident site. A page in the logbook showed that it was "Logbook 2" and was started in March of 2008. The last entry was dated on October 10, 2009, and showed a total of 724.3 hours in single-engine airplanes. Additionally, the logbook noted that the pilot attended the Montana Department of Aeronautics 2009 Mountain Search Pilot Clinic in September where he accrued 2.7 hours of instruction.

Additional logbook copies were provided by the pilot's family. The pilot's last flight review was noted in his logbook as September 9, 2007, when he attended the Montana Department of Aeronautics 2007 Mountain Search Pilot Clinic. Due to a change in the program since 2007, the clinic no longer served as a flight review. Whether or not the pilot thought that he satisfied the flight review requirements when he attended the clinic in 2009 could not be determined. No record of a current flight review was found. Records obtained from the clinic from 2007 and 2009 showed that the instructors that flew with the pilot recommended that he receive additional flight instruction.

AIRPLANE INFORMATION

The four-seat, fixed-gear, high-wing airplane, serial number (SN) 33002 was manufactured in 1956. It was powered by a Teledyne Continental Motors O-470-L-1 (SN 66002-5-L) engine equipped with a McCauley 2A36C1-TS propeller (SN 55567). Review of the maintenance logbooks showed that the last annual inspection was completed on October 1, 2008, at a total aircraft time of 3,798.89 hours and a tachometer time of 1,411.89 hours. The last maintenance entry was in the engine logbook and noted an oil change on March 14, 2009, at a tachometer time of 1,435.8 hours.

MEDICAL INFORMATION

The Big Horn County Coroner completed an autopsy on the pilot. The cause of death was listed as accidental due to injuries sustained in the accident. The FAA's Civil Aeromedical Research Institute completed toxicology testing on specimens of the pilot. The results were negative for cyanide, volatiles, and all tested drugs. Carbon monoxide testing was not able to be performed.

METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION

The nearest aviation weather reporting facility was Billings Logan International Airport, Billings, Montana, located about 27 miles northwest of the accident site. The airport is at an elevation of 3,652 feet. At 1153, the following conditions were reported: winds calm, visibility 10 statute miles, cloud ceilings overcast at 1,000 feet, temperature minus 2 degrees Celsius, dew point minus 4 degrees Celsius, and altimeter 29.95 inches of Mercury.

The accident site was in a remote area without weather observation facilities. Area forecasts showed that airman's meteorological information (AIRMETs) Sierra (mountain obscuration) and Zulu (icing) Update 2 were in effect at the time of the accident. Search and rescue volunteers reported that at the time of the accident, low fog covered the area of the accident site.

WRECKAGE AND IMPACT

The airplane impacted sloped terrain of a canyon side wall, and the debris field was approximately 200 feet in length. The first identified point of impact was a line in the dirt that led to a large crater of disrupted earth. Below this crater, there were three distinct marks in the terrain. From the left mark to the center mark was 4 feet; from the right mark to the center mark was 3 feet 3 inches. The nose landing gear was located about 10 feet below these marks.

Approximately 10 feet from the crater, the engine, propeller, and firewall were identified. The propeller remained attached to the engine. Continuing in the debris path, portions of the right aileron and left outboard elevator were located. The outboard section of the right wing was located 20 feet from this position. The main wreckage was located approximately 40 feet from the right wing, and slightly downslope. The inboard portion of the right wing was intertwined with the main wreckage. The main wreckage was followed in the debris field by the right door and left occupant seat, the left wing, and the left door.

TESTS AND RESEARCH

Airframe Examination

The Cessna 182 was examined. The right and left wing were separated from the fuselage. The right wing was separated into two sections. The wing strut inboard remained attached with the fuselage by the control cables. Both the ailerons and flaps on the right wing were separated. The right aileron was separated into two sections; one inboard of the aileron bellcrank and one outboard of the bellcrank. The left wing inboard section of aileron remained attached. The outboard section of the aileron was located nearby. The left flap remained attached. All control surfaces were accounted for at the accident site.

The engine had separated from the fuselage at the firewall, and the propeller remained secured to the propeller flange. The outboard right wing had separated from the fuselage at the wing strut; the inboard portion of the right wing remained attached to the fuselage by control cables. The left wing separated from the fuselage at the wing root.

The cables for the rudder and elevators were continuous from the control surfaces to their attach points in the cockpit. The aft cabin bulkhead was wrinkled and folded and had trapped the rudder and elevator control cables within it so no movement could be obtained. Separation of the control cables for the ailerons exhibited broomstrawing.

The flap handle separated from the airplane, and the flap reading could not be ascertained. The airplane was equipped with 27.5 gallon bladder tanks, and they were breached. The fuel selector sustained damage, and a mark was evident on the selector casing between the “Both” position and the “Left” position. The throttle, propeller, and mixture controls were found in the full forward positions. The electronic locator transmitter was destroyed during the impact sequence.

The tachometer showed 2,400 revolutions per minute, and 1,500.6 hours (last annual was 1,411.89). The altimeter showed 4,080 feet and the Kollsman window was set at 29.92 inches of Mercury.

The airplane was not equipped with shoulder harnesses. The cabin area was destroyed by impact forces. Both lap belts had been pulled from their mounting points.

Engine Examination

The engine, propeller, engine mounting assembly, and firewall remained partially attached to each other, and separated from the main wreckage. Various cables, lines, and tubing had impact damage, and separated from the engine. The propeller assembly had impact damage and remained attached to the crankshaft flange. The engine was found in a nose down position, and the oil sump was crushed upwards. The forward, lower side of the crankcase had impact damage, and the propeller governor drive gear was visible. The oil cooler separated from the engine and had impact damage. Both magnetos separated from the engine and had impact damage to their mounting flanges. A portion of the idler gear could be seen and was lubricated and undamaged. The starter and a large portion of the starter adapter mounting flange separated from the engine. The vacuum pump remained attached to the engine and both inlet and out tubes separated. The induction assembly had impact damage. The carburetor separated from the engine and had impact damage. The exhaust assembly separated from the engine and was found in the debris path. The upper spark plugs were removed from the cylinders. The spark plug electrode areas had light grey deposits and had (worn out – normal) erosion according to the Champion AV-27 chart. The cylinders were borescoped, and the combustion chambers and piston heads had light grey deposits. The valve heads were undamaged, and had no signs of damage or abnormal thermal discoloration. Gear continuity was obtained from the propeller assembly to the idler gear.

The valve covers for cylinders 3 and 6 had holes due to impact damage. The valve cover for the number 1 cylinder had a small impact mark. The valve cover for the number 2 cylinder contained material that was collected and sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory. The valve covers contained new gaskets. The gasket replacement was not specifically noted in the maintenance logbook entries.

One propeller blade was bent aft with its tip bent slightly forward, and the other propeller blade was bent forward. The spinner was crushed around the propeller hub.

Materials Lab

The material collected from the number 2 cylinder valve cover was sent to the NTSB Materials Lab. Using a valve cover gasket from the accident engine for comparison, the material was analyzed using Fourier-Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The solid material’s spectrum was found to have similarities to alumino-silicates such as mullite or cordierite. Similar materials can be found as fillers in gaskets and seals. The liquid was identified as hydrocarbon based lubricating oil. The spectrum of the exemplar gasket material was compared to the unknown material. While the comparison of the known and unknown spectra did not provide a good match, several significant peaks within each of the spectra did match.

The unknown material and the gasket material were analyzed using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Both EDS spectra showed that the known gasket material and the unknown material consisted mostly of carbon, aluminum, oxygen and silicon.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Handheld Global Positioning System

A handheld Garmin global positioning system device was recovered from the accident site. The unit had been damaged during the accident sequence. It was sent to the NTSB Recorders Laboratory for download. The data showed that the last recorded flight originated from Sheridan, Wyoming, and appeared to be traveling direct to Laurel, Montana, in a west-northwesterly direction. The altitude throughout the majority of the flight was between 4,500 feet and 5,500 feet. Near the end of the recorded data, the track showed a turn to the right for 360 degrees. At the conclusion of this 360-degree turn, the track continued in a southerly direction, then turned right to the north, and then left in a southerly direction. Throughout the last two minutes of the flight, the ground speed ranged from 72 miles per hour to 182 miles per hour, the second to last target showed 11 miles per hour, with the final target showing 139 miles per hour. The last data points showed a westerly track.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot’s decision to continue flight into an area of low ceilings and low visibility and his failure to maintain clearance from terrain.