20121118026069A

Inspector jd kearby received a call on November 19, 2012 at 0015 local EST and was notified of an aircraft that crashed around 1855 from unknown circumstances near Savannah, GA. The usgc informed inspector kearby that they had been looking for N78304, a Cessna 172 since the aircraft went NORDO. Search and rescue helicopter had found the aircraft about 10NM sse of the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (ksav) around 0000 local. N78304 was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain while receiving vectors to the ILS 1 to ksav. NTSB investigator ralph hicks arrived on scene around 1230 local and coordinated with inspector kearby. The wreckage was found in a salt marsh. The airframe was fragmented with several sections submerged in mud and salt water. Photos taken at the scene revealed that N78304 impacted the ground at a steep angle at a high rate of descent. N78304 was oriented on an easterly heading with most of the debris field located in the initial impact hole. A few pieces located in the vicinity of 100 feet from the impact site. privacy data omitted Fueled N78304 and departed 2A5 around 1645 local without incident. No weather was available at causey airport. The closest weather observation was a METAR from burlington-alamance regional airport (kbuy), it reported at 1954Z (1453 local): winds 020 at 10 kt gusting 18 kt, 10 sm visibility, clear skys, temperature 13 celsius, dewpoint 05 celsius. The weather at the destination at 1953Z (1453 local) was reported by the ksav METAR: winds 360 at 13 kt, 10 sm visibility, broken 1800, broken 3500, overcast 12,000, temperature 13 celsius, dewpoint 09 celsius. The terminal area forecast (TAF) reported that the ceiling at 0200Z (2100 local) was forecasted to be broken 800 and overcast 1200. The weather enroute was marginal with thunderstorms located to the east of N78304'S route. Night, IMC prevailed at the time of accident based on the METAR at ksav at 1853 local. The METAR reported: winds 350 at 13 kt, 3 sm visibility, scattered 0600, broken 1800, overcast 2000, temperature 12 celsius, dewpoint 11 celsius, light rain. An IFR flight plan had been filed for the part 91 personal flight. Records showed that N78304 was registered to a roddy l. crosgrove of liberty, NC. Inspector kearby contacted Mr. Crosgrove requested all logbooks be mailed to the atl FSDO. Logbooks were reviewed by the atl FSDO, NTSB, Cessna, and Lycoming. Mr. Crosgove is a holder of a FAA mechanic certificate (privacy data omitted) with airframe and powerplant rating and was performing the 100 hour checks for N78304. N78304 received its GPS IFR approval on may 9, 2012, 100 hour and annual on June 29, 2012, pitot-static system test on November 14, 2012, transponder check on November 14, 2012. Last ELT tested date was may 20, 2011, the ELT test was out of date by almost six months. The discrepancy was found at that time by ASI danny cox. Inspector kearby reviewed ATC data retrieved from the Savannah TRACON and showed that N78304 approached ksav from the northeast on a heading of 180 at 4000 feet. After the PIC descends to 2000 feet and starts to receive vectors to the northwest for the approach, it appears that N78304 heading starts drifting and is not flying assigned headings. This drifting progressively gets worse and eventually makes a tight 360 to the right and then westbound. Radar contact is lost one minute later after N78304 makes a sharp turn (unknown direction) at 1700 feet at 134 KTS southbound. Aircraft was located within one mile of last radar contact. Inspector kearby along with ralph hicks, henry soderlund from Cessna, and mike childers of Lycoming inspected the damage on December 3-4 & 10, 2012. There were no conclusive mechanical malfunctions found by the investigation team that would have precluded normal operation of the airframe and/or engine. Pilots logbooks were not recovered and were beleived to be onboard.