20001123035349A

(-23) On November 23, 2000, at approx. 3:15 a.m., N3988R was executing an instrument approach to runway 17 at Stillwater Municipal Airport, Stillwater, Oklahoma. Weather conditions at Stillwater Municipal Airport at the time were ceiling 300 feet overcast, visibility 4 statute miles in light rain and mist, wind from 110 degrees at 6 knots. The pilot of N3988R was attempting his second instrument approach to Stillwater, having executed a missed approach on his first attempt at approx. 2:50 a.m. the a/c impacted the ground approx. 1/2 mile north, and 300 feet west of the threshold of runway 17. (.4) history of flight: on November 23, 2000, about 0315 central standard time, a Piper PA-28-180 single-engine airplane, N3988R, collided with terrain approximately 1/2 mile north of the threshold of runway 17 during an instrument approach to the Stillwater Municipal Airport, Stillwater, Oklahoma. The airplane, which was owned and operated by the pilot, was destroyed by impact forces and fire. The non-instrument rated private pilot was fatally injured and the passenger received serious injuries. Night instrument meteorological conditions prevailed for the 14 code of federal regulations part 91 personal flight. An instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed for the cross-country flight that departed hays, Kansas, at 0110. Information obtained from FAA air traffic control facilities and family members indicated that on November 22, 2000, the pilot flew the airplane with one passenger (his wife) from cullman, Alabama, to Stillwater, arriving at approximately 1830. A line service technician employed by a fixed base operator a the airport fueled the airplane and assisted the pilot in obtaining weather information from the computer in the lobby of the terminal building. According to the technician, the pilot stated that he was planning to fly the airplane to hays, Kansas, later that night. The pilot and his wife then left the terminal. At about 2145, they returned to the terminal, and the line service technician observed the pilot obtain a telephone weather briefing and file a VFR flight plan for a flight from Stillwater to hays with one person aboard. Family members reported that the pilot was going to hays to pick up his daughter and return with her to Stillwater. After the pilot got off the phone, the technician overheard him say to his wife, "I didn't thin k you'd feel real comfortable on the way back - we'll be in and out of clouds... I'm not going to take any chances or anything. According to the technician, the wife replied, "I've already called them to pick me up." The pilot then flew the airplane by himself from Stillwater to hays. After landing at hays municipal airport, the pilot had the airplane refueled, and at 0040 on November 23, the pilot called the wichita flight service station (fss) and obtained a weather for the return flight to Stillwater. During the briefing, the pilot was told that visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the departure from hays and instrument meteorological conditons prevailed in Stillwater. The pilot then filed an IFR flight plan for a flight from hays to Stillwater, and at 0110, the airplane departed from hays with the pilot and his daughter aboard. At 0231, the airplane cleared for "an [instrument] approach" to the Stillwater Municipal Airport. At 0232, the pilot requested the current weather and was issued the Stillwater weather as "three hundred overcast; visibility, three with light rain; wind, zero-niner-zero at three; and the altimeter, three-zero-one-zero." At 0250, the pilot reported that he was executing a missed approach and requested another approach. At 0251, the airplane was cleared for a second approach, and at 0256, the pilot was told to switch to advisory frequency. The pilot's acknowledgement of the frequency change was the last radio transmission received from the airplane. At 0258, radar contact with the airplane was lost when it descended below 2,300 feet, the floor of radar coverage in the Stillwater area. The last radar return placed the airplane about 5.5 miles north of the Stillwater airport. At 0324, when the pilot did not close the IFR flight plan, a search for the airplane was initiated. About 0451, local authorities located the airplane approximately 3,800 feet north and 300 feet west of the threshold of runway 17.