- Date
- December 10, 1987, 22:30 local (Dec 11, 1987, 03:30 UTC)
- Place
- Hilton Head Isl, SC
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N777RCCessna 421A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report February 24, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19871210070049A
- Case key
- 7572
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Acft depted coastal arpt at night with 400 ft partial obscuration in patchy fog. Ground witnesses who heard acft depicted a circling flt path to the right after takeoff. Eng, prop & turbo teardowns demonstrated both engs were operating at high power & no evidence was found of a pre-impact malfunction. Acft never appeared on radar and no comm was attempted after takeoff. Review of pilot records showed atypically low total instrument flt hours. PIC was cleared to maintain runway heading after takeoff and climb to 2000 feet.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N777RC
- Reported as
- Cessna 421A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 421A0149
- Engine
- Continental GTSIO-520-D, 375 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Tennessee Wings, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 6, 1987 · 98 hours before
- Departed
- 49J · Hilton Head Isl, SC
- Destination
- CJE · Cookeville, TN
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 49J · Hilton Head, runway 21, 4,300 × 75 ft, grass/turf
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 65
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 4,970 total · 162 in this make and model · 4,851 as pilot in command · 79 in the last 90 days · 33 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 190° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- 49J, 1 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.