20040624019309A

(-23) On June 24, 2004, at 2345 eastern daylight time, N2116P, Cessna 172-S, owned and operated by student pilot, Mr. Timothy standafer, crashed into rising terrain 10 miles northeast of Asheville, north carolina. Mr. Standafer was receiving flight instruction from CFII, Mr. Brian turner, at the time of the accident. The instructional flight was conducted under the provisions of title 14 CFR part 91, and visual flight rules prevailed at the time of the accident. The CFI received minor injuries and the student pilot received serious injuries and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight originated at approximately 2245 on June 24, 2004, from big sandy airport, airport identifier K22, direct to thomson-mcduffle municipal airport, identifier hqu, in thomson, Georgia. According to the pilots after departure from big sandy airport they climbed to 7,500 feet mean sea level (MSL) and stayed there for about an hour. Mr. Turner states that the ceiling began dropping and he gave instruction to the student to adjust the altitude of the aircraft to 5,500 feet MSL to maintain visual flight rules. The ceiling kept dropping and the pilots adjusted the aircraft altitude to maintain visual flight to 4,000 feet. They again adjusted their altitude to 3,500 feet and struck a tree about 400 feet below the ridge of a mountain at cruise flight configuration and airspeed of about 120 knots. On scene investigation did not find any evidence of any mechanical problems with the aircraft, fuel contamination was not a factor and all aircraft flight controls were verified for continuity and cockpit indication revealed aircraft was in the cruse configuration at time of impact with the trees. Both pilots stated that they were utilizing the aircraft Honeywell KMD-540 multi-function display (MFD) and the KLN-94 GPS for navigation and terrain avoidance at the time of controlled flight into terrain. Both pilots stated that this equipment was indicating aircraft to be in the green color, which indicated that there was no terrain above a level of 3,000 feet MSL when the aircraft struck the first tree at approximately 3,570 feet MSL. The avionics equipment was observed in the aircraft at the accident site and was intact. The avionics, which included KLN-94 GPS, KMD-550 multi-function display and the transponders were removed from the aircraft wreckage prior to aircraft recovery to be preserved for offsite investigation. The GPS and kmd were reinstalled in the aircraft at atlanta air salvage on 06/30/2004. The GPS antenna was removed prior to aircraft power being applied. The units were powered using an external power source. The approximate aircraft accident site was displayed on the GPS and pictorially displayed on the multi-function display. The terrain color in this area was a light brown color, which indicates terrain of 3,000 to 4,999 feet MSL. Both databases of this equipment were current with an expiration date of 07 July 04.