At about 09:40 EDT, a Cessna 172N struck mountains near Dyke, killing the pilot and three passengers. The airplane was rented from a flight school in Newport News. The dispatcher stated she first saw the pilot about 08:00 on the day of the accident. The pilot said he was going to fly to Charlottesville, Va., and logged the airplane out accordingly, with a return time of 17:00. As the pilot was preflighting the airplane, it began to rain and he departed without finishing signing out the airplane. The weather deteriorated and the flight school began a telephone search for the airplane around 12:30. The wreckage was found by ground search teams on the morning of August 27. A forest ranger situated less than two miles from the accident site at the time of the crash described the weather conditions during that time period as low-lying cloud cover with limited visibility, intermittent periods of heavy rain, and light winds. The pilot had received his private certificate three weeks earlier.
Aug. 25, Dyke, Va. / Cessna 172N
At about 09:40 EDT, a Cessna 172N struck mountains near Dyke, killing the pilot and three passengers. The airplane was rented from a flight school in Newport News. The dispatcher stated she first saw the pilot about 08:00 on the day of the accident. The pilot said he was going to fly to Charlottesville, Va., and logged the airplane out accordingly, with a return time of 17:00. As the pilot was preflighting the airplane, it began to rain and he departed without finishing signing out the airplane. The weather deteriorated and the flight school began a telephone search for the airplane around 12:30. The wreckage was found by ground search teams on the morning of August 27. A forest ranger situa...
Key Takeaways:
- A rented Cessna 172N crashed into mountains near Dyke, killing the newly certified pilot (who received his private certificate three weeks prior) and three passengers.
- The pilot departed in rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, including low-lying clouds, limited visibility, and heavy rain, without fully signing out the aircraft.
- The flight school initiated a search for the overdue airplane around 12:30, with ground teams locating the wreckage the following morning.
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