From: Lancair Mailing List
[mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of VTAILJEFF@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008
10:43 PM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] N329BW Albany Oregon
February 8, 2008 Probable Cause
"Accident occurred Friday, February
08, 2008 in Albany, OR
Probable Cause Approval Date: 9/26/2008
Aircraft: Wooters Lancair ES, registration: N329BW
Injuries: 3 Fatal.
The non-instrument rated, private pilot
filed an instrument flight plan for a cross-country flight, in an airplane not
equipped for in-flight icing encounters. The pilot was seated in the right seat, and the airplane's
owner, also a non-instrument rated private pilot, was seated in the left seat.
Family members indicated that the pilot and the owner/pilot flew together
often, and the right seat pilot would provide radio and navigation assistance
to the owner/pilot. Based on the available evidence, investigators were unable
to determine who was flying the airplane at the time of the accident. The
airplane was cleared to climb to 13,000 feet, and approximately 8 minutes after
departure, declared an emergency and was lost from radar. Data obtained from
instrumentation on board the airplane indicated that after attaining
approximately 10,400 feet, the airplane entered a rapid descent. Weather information
at the time of the accident showed that icing conditions were forecast along
the route of flight. Records show multiple weather information requests from
the right seat pilot's computer log-on information to a digital weather service
provider the night prior to the accident, and the left seat owner/pilot
received a weather briefing via telephone the night prior to the accident. All
briefings indicated that visual flight rules to marginal visual flight rules
conditions were forecast, and there were airman's meteorological information
(AIRMETs) advisories for mountain obscuration, icing, and turbulence.
The National Transportation Safety Board
determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot-in-command's failure to
maintain aircraft control while in cruise flight. Contributing to the accident
were inadequate planning/decision, icing conditions, and continued flight into
known icing conditions."