- Date
- July 4, 1984, 10:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- St. Joseph, MI
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N52444Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840704029519A
- Case key
- 12432
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
Pieces of wreckage and the body of the plt were recovered from lake Michigan aprx 4 mi sw of st Joseph. Wx at the dep arpt was VFR but deteriorated along the route of flt over the lake due to fog becoming IMC. A caution statement printed on the chicago sectional warned plts of a loss of horizontal reference at low alt over the lake during hazy conditions or at night. There were no radio communications with the non-instrument rated plt after being cleared to takeoff with a north easterly dep.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N52444
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17274525
- Airframe hours
- 1,149
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- Unknown
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Chicago Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · May 14, 1984
- Departed
- MDW · Chicago, IL
- Destination
- 0D1 · South Haven, MI
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
- 24
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 125 total · 125 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BEH, 5 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.