N7253Z

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On March 5, 2003, at 2240 central standard time (cst), a Beech A36, N7253Z, piloted by an airline transport pilot (ATP), was substantially damaged during an in-flight collision with trees and terrain near Sparta, Illinois. Night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 while on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The pilot and his passenger were fatally injured. The flight departed Duluth International Airport (DLH), Duluth, Minnesota, at 1951.

According to information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the pilot had filed an IFR flight plan from DLH to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport (CGI), Cape Girardeau, Missouri. While en-route the pilot reported to air traffic control (ATC) that the airplane had encountered icing conditions and ultimately requested to divert to Sparta Community Airport (SAR), Sparta, Illinois. The airplane impacted trees and terrain approximately 4.3 nautical miles (nm) south of the airport.

The pilot of N7253Z contacted Princeton Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) on three occasions prior to departing DLH. At 1522, the pilot called Princeton AFSS and received a standard weather briefing for an IFR flight from DLH to CGI. At 1558, the pilot contacted Princeton AFSS to file an IFR flight plan from DLH to CGI with a proposed departure time of 1630. At 1906, the pilot called Princeton AFSS to obtain an abbreviated weather briefing and reported that the flight was going to depart within the hour.

At 1929, the pilot contacted Duluth ATC to request taxi and departure clearances. At 1951, the pilot was cleared for takeoff and a climb to 7,000 feet above mean sea level (msl). The flight continued uneventfully until 2119:46 (hhmm:ss) when the pilot asked Springfield approach control if he could descend from 7,000 feet to 6,000 feet msl because the airplane was "starting to pick up a trace of ice." The controller cleared the pilot to descend and maintain 6,000 feet msl. At 2121:24, the pilot asked to descend from 6,000 feet to 5,000 feet msl. The controller cleared the pilot to descend and maintain 5,000 feet msl.

At 2136:07, the pilot established radio communications with St. Louis departure control and reported being at 5,000 feet msl. At 2142:21, the pilot told St. Louis departure control that he was "picking up a little ice" at 5,000 feet msl and requested to descend to 4,000 feet msl. The controller cleared the pilot to descend and maintain 4,000 feet msl. At 2144:07, the pilot told the controller that the airplane descended below the cloud base around 4,600 feet msl.

At 2148:31, St. Louis departure control asked the pilot if his airplane was equipped with "weather equipment." The pilot replied that the airplane was equipped with a storm scope. At 2148:43, the pilot asked the controller, "We got thunderstorms down there?" The controller told the pilot, "uh I don't know what kind of precipitation it is sir, uh, it just indicates some precipitation along your uh route ahead at uh beginning at about twelve o'clock and about fifteen miles." At 2148:55 the pilot stated, "uh roger that, well maybe we should go over to St. Louis Regional too, but let me dig out the charts here so I can pick up the uh approach first." The accident airplane and a Cirrus Design SR-22 (N1039) departed DLH around the same time and both were en-route to CGI. The accompanying airplane elected to divert to St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN), Alton, Illinois, after encountering the adverse weather conditions. At 2148:57, the accident airplane was at 4,000 feet msl and 4.7 nm north-northeast of ALN, according to a plot of ATC aircraft radar track data.

At 2152:06, St. Louis departure control asked the pilot if he was going to continue to CGI. The pilot replied, "yeah, I'm having trouble finding the approach book for down there." At 2152:15, the pilot asked the controller if there was any precipitation near CGI. The controller responded, "all I know, what I'm looking at is about twelve o'clock to you and about seven miles now, and uh it's almost like a line you're going to have to pass through here. I don't know the intensity on it, but it begins at twelve o'clock and about seven miles." At 2152:30, the pilot asked for radar vectors around the weather. The controller told the pilot to make a right turn to a heading of 250 degrees magnetic. At 2152:30, the airplane was at 4,000 feet msl and 6.1 nm southeast of ALN.

At 2152:57, St. Louis departure control told the pilot that there was "no defined break" in the weather and that the pilot would have to "just keep looking to your left and just pick your best spot." At 2155:00, the pilot asked the controller, "how about direct Cape Girardeau now, does it look pretty good?" The controller replied, "um well, you can still go through the same precipitation sir, proceed direct and just keep me advised." At 2155:01, the airplane was at 4,000 feet msl and 6.9 nm south of ALN.

At 2200:04, the pilot told St. Louis departure control, "yeah, we're picking up moderate ice, what are you painting ahead of us, we might have to turn back." The controller replied, "I'm not painting any ice, but uh we've pretty much had icing reports in the clouds for uh most of the evening, basically between three thousand and seven thousand." At 2200:05, the airplane was at 4,000 feet msl and 8.0 nm east-northeast of St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS), 9.2 nm west-northwest of Scott Air Force Base/MidAmerica Airport (BLV), and 15.9 nm south of ALN.

At 2200:29, the pilot stated, "okay, we're at four maybe thirty five would help, I don't know." At 2200:47, the controller replied, "I got traffic below ya there, I can't give ya lower till you get by him, but I uh got a guy down south that went from four to three and he's doing a little better at three, but he's still getting ice at three." At 2201:03, the pilot told the controller that the airplane had accumulated "about an inch of rime [ice]." The controller cleared the pilot to descend and maintain 3,100 feet msl. At 2201:05, the airplane was at 4,000 feet msl and 7.8 nm west-northwest of BLV and 8.0 nm east-northeast of CPS.

At 2203:05, the controller cleared the pilot to descend and maintain 3,000 feet msl. At 2208:36, the controller asked the pilot if the weather conditions were "getting better" at 3,000 feet msl and the pilot replied "yeah it's still the same, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere." At 2208:36, the airplane was at 3,000 feet msl and 13.1 nm south-southwest of BLV and 18.5 nm south-southeast of CPS.

At 2210:03, the pilot established radio communications with Kansas City Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and reported "we've got a fair load of ice on board." At 2216:30, the controller told the pilot to cross 25 miles north of CGI at 3,500 feet msl. At 2216:52, the pilot told the controller "three thousand five hundred, I don't know if I can get back up there." At 2116:55, the airplane was at 3,000 feet msl and 7.6 nm southwest of SAR.

At 2219:22, the pilot told Kansas City ARTCC, "we're gonna need vectors to Chester, we're not gonna make it up there, we're already in stall mode, for this airplane is full of ice." The pilot was referring to Perryville Municipal Airport (K02), Perryville, Missouri, located about 3.4 nm south-southwest of Chester, Illinois. The controller told the pilot that he was "not familiar with Chester" and offered vectors to SAR instead. At 2219:22, the airplane was at 3,100 feet msl and 9.4 nm south-southwest of SAR and 9.1 nm north-northeast of K02. At 2219:47, the controller cleared the pilot to descend and maintain 2,000 feet msl and to fly heading 010 degrees magnetic toward the airport.

At 2221:28, the pilot stated "I've got an airport at twelve o'clock which is S A R, is that Sparta?" The controller replied "affirmative" and the pilot reported that he was "heading straight for Sparta." At 2221:40, the controller asked the pilot, "do you have a visual on the airport, or you just have it on the charts?" The pilot replied, "we have it on the GPS [global position system]." The controller cleared the pilot to maintain 2,300 feet msl until the initial approach fix and cleared him for the "approach at the Sparta airport." At 2221:41, the airplane was at 2,500 feet msl and 7.8 nm south-southwest of the airport.

At 2223:03, the controller issued the current weather conditions at BLV and cleared N7253Z to change to SAR airport advisory frequency. At 2223:29, the pilot asked if there were any weather reports for SAR. The controller did not respond. At 2223:31, the airplane was at 2,200 feet msl and 4.9 nm south-southwest if the airport.

According to radar track data, the airplane continued northbound until 2228:31, when the airplane turned back south toward SAR. At 2228:31, the airplane was at 2,200 feet and 3.2 nm north-northwest of the airport. Between 2230:31 and 2230:49 the airplane was directly over the airport, between 2,200 feet and 1,900 feet msl. The airplane then continued southbound, away from the airport.

At 2233:19, the controller attempted to contact N7253Z. The pilot replied, "yeah we're trying to set up this approach over here at Sparta." At 2233:22, the airplane was at 2,000 feet msl and 4.3 nm south-southeast of the airport. At 2235:42, the controller told the pilot that the airplane was about 7.5 nm south of the airport. The pilot replied, "roger we're just starting to turn back now." About 2236:00, the airplane began a left turn back toward the airport. At 2236:31, the airplane was at 2,300 feet and 8.9 nm south of the airport.

At 2240:19, the controller stated, "November seven two five zulu, no need to acknowledge, I show you about three miles south of the field." At 2240:22, the airplane was at 900 feet msl and 4.7 nm south...