AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT: JATKOE CESSNA 411A, N100KC, WISE, VIRGINIA. JANUARY 12, 1975

At 1950 e.s.t., on January 12, 1975, a Cessna model 411A, N100KC, crashed near Wise, Virginia. The aircraft was on an IFR flight from Savannah, Georgia, to Pontiac, Michigan. Before the crash, the pilot reported that there was an engine problem, that the aircraft was icing up and vibrating severely, and that he needed air traffic control's assistance to find an airport. The air traffic controller vectored the flight to Lonesome Pine Airport near Wise, Virginia, where the pilot executed a VOR approach. However, the pilot was unable to see the airport and executed a missed approach. The aircraft crashed at night in an area of low ceilings and freezing rain and while the pilot was receiving vectors toward Tri-City Airport, Tennessee. The aircraft was destroyed, and the seven occupants were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was a controlled collision with the terrain, while the flight was receiving radar vectors in night IMC conditions, because structural icing prevented the pilot from climbing to a safe altitude. Contributing to the accident were the pilot's failure to appreciate the severity of the weather he could expect to encounter and to take the initiative to divert the flight before his options were reduced, and the controllers' failures to take more timely and forceful action to seek more specific information regarding the degree of deterioration of the pilot's and aircraft's ability to deal with the adverse conditions.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • See also NTISUB/B/104-76/004. Paper copy also available on subscription $35.00/year domestic, $45.00/year foreign.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594

  D.C. Bureau of Aviation Safety.

  ,    
• Publication Date: 1976-3-8

Media Info

• Pagination: 36 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air traffic control; Air transportation crashes; Airborne navigational aids; Approach; Crash investigation; Crash landing; Ice; Instrument flying; Radio navigation; Vibration
• Old TRIS Terms: Ice reporting
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00133383
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-AAR-76-5, File-3-0512
• Files: NTIS
• Created Date: Jul 13 1976 12:00AM