Winter Airplane Accidents

Investigators also found that there was an absence of radar returns for the aircraft as it moved over the airfield, suggesting that it was below radar, which is only 500 feet AGL here. The wreckage imprint on the trees suggested a shallow descent angle. This suggested the pilot was hunting close to the ground trying to acquire the runway visually. Unfortunately, he was already past the airport.

Tim Vasquez

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

ASOS/AWOS reports can be optimistically inaccurate, and datalink weather radar has significant delays and limitations, making real-time weather assessment challenging and potentially leading pilots into hazardous conditions.
Even aircraft with anti-ice systems are vulnerable to dangerous ice accretion, especially during prolonged exposure to supercooled clouds, which can severely impact performance and compound other issues like engine failure or low airspeed.
Pushing limits in challenging weather due to external pressures or over-reliance on imperfect information significantly increases risk, underscoring the critical need for vigilance and a pre-planned exit strategy (e.g., diverting, commencing a missed approach promptly) when conditions deteriorate.

See a mistake? Contact us.

In the August issue of IFR, we reviewed some accidents by experienced IFR-rated pilots looking for some traps and mistakes to avoid. Now that winter flying is upon us, we’ll focus on some of this season’s hazards.

Michigan, December 2014

On Christmas Eve 2014 shortly after 12:30 pm, a PA-34 crashed while attempting to land at Port Huron Airport. The pilot was a 52-year old Ontario man with 240 hours of single-engine time and 387 hours of multi-engine time, including instruction. The plane was operating under an IFR flight plan, inbound from Richmond, Virginia, and the pilot, the sole occupant, died in the crash.