- Date
- July 11, 1989, 18:33 local (22:33 UTC)
- Place
- Logansport, IN
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N64087Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 10, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890711024879A
- Case key
- 14379
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Poor judgement of the pilot due to physical impairment from consumption of alcohol, his inadvertent flight into known adverse weather, and his inadequate control of the aircraft during a precautionary landing. Contributing factors were: the weather conditions and the pilot becoming spatially disoriented.
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 plt reported that he encountered marginal wx with thunderstorms (tstms) & diverted to peru, Indiana; however, thunderstorms were there as well. He contacted grissom apch control. After some difficulty with radio reception, he obtained vectors to divert to Logansport, Indiana, but by that time, he was surrounded by tstms. At an alt of 2500', he enctrd hvy rain with no fwd vis. He rprtd that he flew into a tstm & enctrd severe turbc. He stated that 'the gyros tumbled,' & he thought the acft was spinning, then the acft exited the storm inverted, at an alt of about 400'. He recovered from the unusual attitude & elected to land. Drg the landing, the left wing tip contacted the ground & the acft was damaged as it skidded to a stop. Police & medical psnl noted the odor of alcohol coming from the plt's breath. A sample of blood was drawn from the plt aprx 3-3/4 hrs after the acdnt. A toxicology check of the sample showed the plt had a blood/alcohol lvl of 0.16%. He was denied a med cert after heart surgery in 1975.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N64087
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275519
- Airframe hours
- 1,410
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Causey, Bill J.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 27, 1989 · 70 hours before
- Departed
- D92 · Monroe, MI
- Destination
- RCR · Logansport, IN
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
- 45
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,000 total · 4,000 in this make and model · 4,700 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GUS, 11 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.