- Date
- August 16, 1985, 07:09 local (11:09 UTC)
- Place
- South Lyon, MI
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N404EXCessna 404
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850816075989A
- Case key
- 12862
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
The acft took off and climbed to 5000 ft uneventfully. It then dropped off radar and subsequently impacted the ground in a flat upright attitude. A post-crash fire consumed the majority of the airframe. Eng and prop teardowns indicated no abnormalities and pwr at the time of impact. A fire in the cargo compartment was ruled out by atf investigators. Main electrical switches were found off in the wreckage. An oxygen bottle in the nose caught fire separatley from the rest of the acft but it could not be determined if the oxygen fire took place in the air or after impact. The door warning, left and right alt out, left and right hyd flow and left and right low fuel annunciator bulbs exhibited stretched filaments when examined following the crash.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N404EX
- Reported as
- Cessna 404
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 404-0017
- Airframe hours
- 5,935
- Engine
- Continental GTSIO-520-M, 375 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 135
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 7, 1985 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- DTW · Detroit, MI
- Destination
- MBS · Saginaw, MI
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 37
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,650 total · 70 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 4 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DTW, 20 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.