N451TD

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn April 19, 2018, at 0843 eastern daylight time, a Cirrus SR22 airplane, N451TD, impacted terrain near Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. The private pilot and one passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed, and a postimpact fire consumed most of the wreckage. The airplane was registered to CPD-JJD, LLC, and operated by the pilot as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 personal flight. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed along the flight route about the time of the accident, and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan had been filed. The airplane departed Lancaster Airport (LNS), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at 0734 and was initially en route to South Bend International Airport (SBN), South Bend, Indiana, but the pilot chose to divert toward Altoona-Blair County Airport (AOO), Altoona, Pennsylvania.

The pilot received a weather briefing the night before the accident and filed a flight plan. Refer to the Meteorological Information section for more information. A review of air traffic control (ATC) communications and radar data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that, about 0828, while the airplane was en route to SBN on a 284° heading and about 5,425 ft mean sea level (msl), the pilot contacted an approach controller at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport (JST), Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and requested to divert to JST (18 miles southwest of the airplane's position) due to ice accumulation on the airplane. The controller advised the pilot that the clouds at JST were overcast at 200 ft above ground level (agl) and that the clouds at AOO (30 miles southeast of the airplane's position) were overcast at 500 ft agl. About 0831, the pilot requested vectors to AOO for an instrument landing system (ILS) approach. After the controller provided the vectors, the pilot requested to descend to 4,000 ft msl, but the controller cleared him to 4,500 ft msl, which was the lowest altitude he could clear the airplane to descend to in that geographical area. Figure 1 shows a Google Earth overlay of the airplane's radar track in red, the AOO approach localizer path in white.

Figure 1. Radar track and accident location (Google Earth overlay)

About 0842, the controller advised the pilot that the airplane had passed through the localizer for the ILS approach to runway 21 at AOO, and the pilot stated that he still wanted to land at AOO and requested vectors to intercept the localizer. The controller issued additional vectors for the pilot to make a box pattern to intercept the localizer; the airplane then turned left turn toward the north. At 0842:33, the airplane began a left standard rate turn and remained about 4,000 ft msl. At 0843:12, the airplane started to descend, and the airspeed increased. At 0843:38, the airplane descended through 2,525 ft msl and continued in a tight, left spiral turn. The final radar point was recorded at 0843:52 at 1,850 ft msl, at which point the airplane was still in a tight, left spiraling turn. Subsequently, radar contact was lost, and no additional communications were received from the pilot. See figure 2 for a radar track showing the initial left turn followed by the spiraling left turns.

Figure 2. Radar track showing the spiraling left turns (Google Earth overlay)

Before the final left turn and descending spiral, the flight path and altitudes were normal with no erratic maneuvers or anomalies noted. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONA review of the pilot's logbook revealed that he accumulated 70 hours of total flight experience from 1980 to 1985. He did not log any additional flight time until 2011. He first flew the accident airplane on January 31, 2014, and then exclusively logged flights in the accident airplane from April 9, 2014, until the accident date.

The pilot's flight instructor stated that he had flown with the pilot six times in the 6 months before the accident. Four of the flights were conducted for the purpose of maintaining instrument currency and proficiency. Their most recent flight was on November 30, 2017, during which the pilot completed ILS and GPS approaches in simulated IMC.

The pilot's logbooks showed that he had completed the recent instrument experience requirements in accordance with 14 CFR Section 61.57, "Recent flight experience: Pilot in command." AIRCRAFT INFORMATIONGeneral

The altitude indicating system and transponder, which were most recently tested in accordance with the requirements of 14 CFR Sections 91.411 and 91.413, "Altimeter system and altitude reporting equipment tests and inspections" and "ATC transponder tests and inspections," respectively, on September 26, 2017.

The airplane was not equipped with an anti-icing or deicing system, thus it was not equipped for flight in icing conditions.

The pilot had the ForeFlight application on a mobile device, which provided instrument approach plates; paper approach plates were found at the accident site.

The cockpit instrumentation included an airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, altimeter and a turn coordinator, vertical speed indicator, Garmin mechanical course deviation indicator, and Sandel SN3308 electronic horizontal situation indicator. The airplane was also equipped with an S-TEC 55X autopilot, a Garmin GTX345 transponder, dual Garmin GNS 430 units, and an ARNAV ICDS-2000 multifunction display (MFD) with an engine monitoring module (EMM-35) that displayed engine data. The ARNAV unit displayed, in part, navigational waypoints, course line, and ground speed and had a separate database, which displayed terrain elevations based on position. The Garmin GNS 430 was approved for IFR operations; however, the ARNAV MFD was for reference only and was not certified for flight in IMC.

Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS)

The airplane was equipped with a Ballistic Recovery Systems ballistic recovery parachute system. According to Cirrus, the CAPS will lower the airplane's entire airframe to the ground when all alternatives to land the airplane have been exhausted. The CAPS consisted of a parachute, a solid-propellant rocket to deploy the parachute, a rocket activation handle, and a Kevlar harness embedded within the fuselage structure. The pilot could activate the system by pulling on a T-handle mounted on the cockpit ceiling above the pilot's right shoulder, which in turn activated the firing pin mechanism that then ignited the solid-propellant rocket in the parachute enclosure.

In the airplane's Pilot's Operating Handbook "Normal Procedures, Preflight Walk-Around" checklist, item 1 states, "CAPS Handle…Pin Removed." In the "Before Starting Engine" checklist, item 4 states, "Verify CAPS handle safety pin is removed." In the "Before Takeoff" checklist, item 2 states, "CAPS Handle…Verify Pin Removed." METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATIONThe pilot received a weather briefing the night before the accident flight at 2127 and filed an IFR flight plan via the Foreflight mobile application with a planned flight route of LNS-EWC-NORNA-SBN at 6,000 ft msl. The pilot entered the same route into the application two times before he filed the flight plan, which is consistent with his comparing the winds aloft at two different flight altitudes.

The ForeFlight weather briefing contained the standard weather information valid for a departure time of 0645 on April 19, but some of the weather forecast products did not provide forecast information of the weather conditions at the time of departure because the weather briefing was requested 10 hours before the flight. The graphical forecast products from the weather briefing predicted cloud cover as low as 2,000 ft msl along the flight route, and the surface forecast predicted marginal visual flight rules conditions with likely snow shower activity. The AOO and JST TAFs called for IFR and low IFR conditions between 0200 and 1000 on April 19. The AIRMET received during the weather briefing was only valid until 0500 on April 19, which was before the intended departure time. At the time of the accident, there was an active AIRMET for moderate icing, IFR/mountain obscuration, and low-level turbulence. An updated AIRMET advisory from as late as 0452 on April 19 was recorded via the flight plan identification number, but it could not be determined if the pilot checked the updated AIRMET information before the flight. No records were found indicating whether the pilot retrieved any other weather information before or during the flight.

Icing Potential

Current icing potential (CIP) and forecast icing potential (FIP) products are intended to be supplemental to other icing advisories, such as AIRMETs and SIGMETs. The FIP products indicated a 50 to 70% probability of icing at trace-to-moderate levels above the accident site from 4,000 to 6,000 ft msl at 0900. The FIP indicated a 40 to 50% probability of supercooled large droplet (SLD) over the accident area around the accident time at 6,000 ft msl. The CIP product indicated a 60 to 85% probability of icing at light-to-moderate levels above the accident site from 4,000 to 6,000 ft msl at 0900. The CIP also indicated a 10 to 40% probability of SLD near the accident site at 0900 between 4,000 and 6,000 ft msl and a 0 to 40% probability of SLD near the accident site at 0800 between 4,000 and 6,000 ft msl. The CIP/FIP information would have been available to the pilot before the accident flight departed.

The National Weather Service Aviation Weather Center that issues the CIP and FIP advises, "NOTE: CIP/FIP is intended for flight planning purposes and should always be used in combination with icing information from all available sources including AIRMETs, SIGMETs, and PIREPs. CIP/FIP aid flight planning and situational awareness through graphical depiction of current and forecast icing conditions across an area or along a route of flight. NOTE: Pilots of aircraft that are not certified for flight into known or forecast icing conditions shou...