Cessna 172S similar to accident aircraft. (Photo by MilborneOne. Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0)

The November 4, 2009 aircraft accident involving a Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP (registration N5194X), in which the two pilots on board were killed, remains a mystery.  Involved in the plane crash was Analytical Economics Inc. co-founder Michael J. Piette and Mark Revet, who worked for the start-up company Pro BioDiesel.  Revet was a Certified Flight Instructor, while Piette was an instrument rated private pilot.  The Cessna 172 crashed just west of Tallahassee Regional Airport (TLH) in Tallahassee, Florida as the pair was starting to practice nighttime takeoffs and landings.  For Velozia Air’s original post on this story, see HERE.

According to last month’s National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) report, the airplane, rented from Eagle Air Corporation, crashed at 7:20 PM EST soon after departing on its very first takeoff.  Visibility for the night flight was great (at least as good as it can be at night).  The pilots were simply going to practice landings in TLH’s runway 36 using a left pattern, which means they were going to depart the runway and fly a rectangular shaped pattern to the left and return to the same runway for the landing.  The plane was at 1,000 feet and on its downwind leg (the downwind is the part of the rectangle pattern that is parallel to the runway) when it began a left, descending turn towards the ground and eventually crashed into the woods.

A controller noticed the descent and contacted the aircraft, but received only the plane’s call sign (N5194X) as a reply.  The NTSB report states that the call sign was transmitted in a short, business-like manner, so it is unclear from the pilot’s reply if there was some sort of emergency aboard (no alteration or heavy breathing in the pilot’s voice).  The controller saw the entire descent, up until there was a fireball as the airplane crashed into trees and then the ground.  The airplane hit the trees at a shallow angle and was completely destroyed by the impact forces and post-crash fire.

(Satellite image by Google Maps. All other information by Velozia Air)

It is very difficult to judge what could have happened here.  There are a few possibilities, but the information available is not enough to drive us towards any conclusions.  As always, we must look at the possibility of an engine failure.  Certainly the fact that the aircraft was turning towards the airport may indicate that they were trying to make one of TLH’s runways, but the answer to the air traffic controller’s (ATC) query leaves doubt (although the instructor could have been busy with emergency procedures and not wanting to waste time with ATC).

Another possibility, due to fact that it was nighttime, is a loss of orientation; although being so close to an airport (which is a lighted and very large visual reference) makes me doubt this would be what happened.  Sure, they could have both been distracted by something in the cockpit and failed to notice the descent until too late, but it just seems very weird.  Usually in patterns, pilots are keeping track of the runway and other points of visual reference to hit their pattern marks.

This is definitely a tough one to decipher.  What do you think?

Want to stay informed of further developments on this story?  You can keep track of this and all our posts by subscribing to Velozia Air.  Simply fill out your e-mail on the “Get Velozia Air Delivered to Your Inbox” section on the right side of this page.

Related Posts:

• Plane crash in Tallahassee leaves two dead.
• Delta plane catches fire in Tallahassee.
• Piper Cub crashes into Jeep near Tallahassee.
  

Popularity: 21% [?]