I used to own a share in this airplane.
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2017/11/cessna-172s-skyhawk-sp-n474sp-goddard.html
I talked with the lady that bought my share and she tells me they added a Garmin G5 and somehow an ability to record flight data(???).
Based on the reports I've read, I'm thinking fuel starvation or disorientation (possible Carbon Monoxide???)
NTSB report isn't out yet.
Goodbye N474SP
Hello Jaybird180 and everyone else,
I'm am the maintenance officer and a board member in the club that owned and flew N474SP.
There is speculation that the pilot was not night current. Looking at his scheduled flights for the past year I think that is a fair assumption.
Now to the accident.
The pilot launched out of Ocean City Maryland at about 4:30 pm. He flew to Ocean city and back so he had plenty of fuel since it's about 50 minutes both ways. We always fuel it before parking it.
The pilot walked away from it and actually made the 911 call. He was taken to the local shock trauma center and passed with flying colors (no pun intended)
I was at W00 when it happened. The pilot called for airport advisories and was informed "winds out of the south at 5, runway 18 favored". He then set up a downwind for 36. We noticed that while he was on final and the dispatcher called and again informed the pilot the winds an 18 favored. The pilot responded "Copy that, 18" executed a go around and set up downwind for 18. We watched him fly downwind but he remained at pattern altitude until his turn to base. Not necessarily a bad thing but most start their decent abeam the numbers. As he started his base turn and diapered behind the hanger I walked to the runway to watch his final to landing and he never showed up. All the time the engine sounded fine.
I went back the office and told the dispatcher I think he went down. Shortly after that they got a call from the police about an "aircraft in distress". The dispatcher made a call and reported the ELT was pinging.
We checked the Flight Aware and Flight Radar sites and the last ping the both had was the aircraft on final, not lined up with the runway, but to the right of the center line at 400'/60kkts. His final fight track was never pointed at the runway according to those two sites.
Lighting.
The runway lights were up and running fine. Just before he got to W00 there was another plane in the pattern practicing night landings and PCL was working.
Then there is RT 50. You can't miss it.
The trees.
The trees in that area are no more than 12' high and the largest drunks are about 3-4" at the base. With the highway, runway lights and PAPI the trees should not be an issue.
The crash site.
I went to the crash site with the recovery crew on Saturday and the evidence I saw does not jibe with what the pilot reported.
The aircraft landed upside down with the nose pointed at the airport on a decline. More on the later. There was almost no damage path through the trees and these trees were about 10-12' high. The trees closest to the plane, about 6 feet away, where broken off about half way down their trunks were as the 10'-12' trees about 6-8' behind them were untouched. I have pictures. That leads me to believe he came down at a relatively steep angle upside down. There were no scrapes on the wheel pants, freshly painted, underside of the cowling, belly or horizontal stabilizer/elevator.
My speculation.
The pilot got behind the curve, was off center line to the right and attempted to get it back, crossed up the controls and spun in at low altitude leaving the plane upside down with the nose at the airport. Low enough to just role over on it's back with enough forward momentum keep it from going straight in.
As to the declining terrain I speculate that that is what saved the pilots life. He did not hit on the flat but the decline may have been close to the angle the the airframe was at when it impacted.
The new avionics.
Since he survived with minor injuries this is what brings a tear to my eye.
We got the plane back just three weeks before this happened.
We had just updated the panel with a Garmin stack consisting of a GTN 750, a GTX 345 ADS-B out and in transponder, Flight Steam 510, two G5s one to replace the attitude indicator and the to replace the DG which in turn eliminated the vacuum system. The G5 the replaced the DG is also an HCI ounce to activate a light plan in the GTN 750. the sad part is the insurance company had not yet been notified of the install.
The G5s and CTN 750 record fight data like Foreflight and Cloud Ahoy so if the NTSB or FAA pulled that data they have a better picture than I do.
I found out form a friend in that business if no one dies and there's no major property damage they typically don't pull the data due to their labs being backed up.
I was able to get about 4 hours with the new gear and I have to say I loved every second of.
The plane has not been released by the FAA yet but when it is I'll be taking to the insurance company about the possibility of removing the new avionics for the next plane. Our avionics guy said he can do a full bench test if they pass we can put them in whatever plane we get.
We are having a board meeting Monday Night to discus the future of the club.
So that is what I have so far.
We will have a far better picture when the NTSB and FAA publishes their reports.
