20040215002019A

(-23) On Sunday, February 15, 2004 at approximately 1650 EST, a Cessna 172E aircraft, bearing registration number N369WP, registered to david blakeley and operating under 14 CFR part 91 on a local pleasure flight, collided with a snow drift while attempting to land at hte Genesee County Airport (gvq) in Batavia, NY. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident and no flight plan had been filed for the flight that departed the buffalo airfield (NC0). During the investigation shortly following the accident, it was noted that the runway conditions at gvq consisted of mostly bare and dry with widely scattered patches of hard packed snow and ice, with good braking action. The pilot and one passenger were the only occupants aboard the aircraft; the pilot received only minor injuries while the passenger was uninjured. Both occupants were wearing a shoulder harness. The aircraft received substantial damage. According to the pilot, he had planned a full-stop landing at gvq. The pilot stated that he had flown a normal approach to runway 10. Winds at the time of the accident were reported to be 350 at 7 knots. According to the pilot, the approach was flown at a slightly higher airspeed than normal, which resulted in floating during the landing. During the landing rollout, the aircraft, (a tailwheel conversion) began to fishtail. When the aircraft had used approximately 50% of the available landing distance on the runway, it departed the north edge, striking a snowdrift that caused the aircraft to flip inverted. The aircraft came to rest in the inverted position, nose pointing in a southwesterly direction, approximately 25 feet from the north edge of the runway. An examination of the pilot's flight records indicated that he had logged a total of 293 hours of total flight time accumulated over the last 13 years. The record further indicated that he had logged 213 hours of time in the accident aircraft over the course of the last 9 years. According to the logbook, the pilot had logged only 1.6 hours of total flight time in the 90 days previous to the accident. During that time the pilot had logged a total of 7 landings. Over the course of the previous year, the pilot's logbook indicated a total of only 10.6 hours logged, with only and additional 7.7 hours for the year previous. With the exception of satisfactory flight reviews dated 7-25-2003, 7-27-2001, 7-28-1999 and 6-28-1997, the most recent logged dual flight instruction was dated 12-13-1996.