# NTSB CHI99FA094: Cessna 172C, N1831Y, Grenola, KS, February 21, 1999 - Type: NTSB accident investigation - Classification: Accident · Fatal · Field investigation · Final report - Date: February 20, 1999, 20:15 local (Feb 21, 1999, 02:15 UTC) - Place: Grenola, KS - Coordinates: 37.350425, -96.439109 (estimated) - Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=37.3504&lon=-96.4391&mi=10 - Phase of flight: [Approach](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/500) (OpenAirDocs' grouping) - Highest injury: Fatal - Injuries: 2 fatal - Status: Completed, report June 22, 2000 - Report: Approved by Office Director - NTSB case key (mKey): 45753 - NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=CHI99FA094 - NTSB report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/45753/pdf - Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CHI99FA094 ## Probable cause loss of control in flight due to incapacitation. ## Sequence of events In NTSB's coding before 2008 (https://www.ntsb.gov/GILS/Documents/codman.pdf). - Loss of control - in flight, approach - vfr pattern - base leg/base to final - aircraft control - not possible, pilot in command (cause) - incapacitation(cardiovascular), pilot in command (contributing factor) - use of inappropriate medication/drug, pilot in command - In flight collision with object, descent - uncontrolled - object - tree(s) (contributing factor) - In flight collision with terrain/water, descent - uncontrolled ## Analysis The pilot's son said he called his father's house/airstrip at 2100 cst. The house-sitter said the airplane had not arrived. The son arrived at the house at 2200 cst, and searched the road in front of the airstrip looking for signs of the airplane. At 2220 cst, he called the Elk County, Kansas, Sheriff. The Sheriff told him that they were receiving an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal near the airstrip. The wreckage was located about 3,500 feet northeast of the airstrip. Examination of wreckage revealed no anomalies. The pilot autopsy revealed he had 'coronary artery atherosclerosis' with 'up to 95-100 percent narrowing of coronary arteries,' and 'old myocardial infarct of [the] posterior lateral left ventricle.' The Sedgwich County, Kansas, Deputy Coroner/Medical Examiner, who examined the pilot, said the pilot was a high-risk for arrhythmia. He also said that he found an opened container of Nitroglycerine tablets in the pilot's shirt pocket. The results of FAA toxicology testing of specimens from the pilot revealed Moricizine detected in blood and urine. The 52nd Edition of the Physicians' Desk Reference (1998), states that Moricizine is an orally-administered prescription medication that is indicated for the treatment of documented ventricular arrhythmia, such as sustained ventricular tachycardia, that, in the judgment of a physician are life-threatening. ## Factual narrative HISTORY OF FLIGHT On February 20, 1999, at 2015 central standard time (cst), a Cessna 172C, N1831Y, operated by a commercial pilot, was destroyed when while maneuvering on base leg for landing to the south at Liebau Airstrip (45KS), the airplane impacted the terrain. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. There was no flight plan on file. The pilot and passenger on board the airplane sustained fatal injuries. The cross-country flight originated at Goodland, Kansas, at 1630 mountain standard time (mst), and was en route to Grenola, Kansas. According to his son, the pilot and his wife had flown to Laramie, Wyoming, to attend the funeral of his wife's mother. They were returning to their ranch at Grenola, Kansas, on the day of the accident. The son said that they took off from Laramie at approximately 1430 mst. A flight instructor for Cowboy Aviation, Laramie Regional Airport, Laramie, Wyoming, said that the pilot came into Cowboy Aviation on the afternoon of February 20, 1999, just before he and his wife departed. The pilot paid his hanger bill and contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Flight Service Station at Casper, Wyoming. The flight instructor said that the pilot obtained a weather briefing. A credit card receipt from Cowboy Aviation, dated February 20, 1999, at 1418 mst, showed that the pilot purchased 18.4 gallons of fuel. A witness at Renner Field/Goodland Municipal Airport, Goodland, Kansas said that the pilot came into Butterfly Aviation, the fixed base operator on the airport, to pay for fuel. A credit card receipt from Butterfly Aviation, dated February 20, 1999, at 1615 mst, showed that the pilot purchased 15 gallons of 100 low lead fuel. The pilot then departed. The witness said that nobody saw the airplane takeoff from Goodland, Kansas. The pilot's son said that he and his wife were driving back from the funeral and were at Garden City, Kansas, when he spoke to his mom. It was 1711 cst (1611 mst) when he spoke with her. His mom told him that they were at Goodland, Kansas getting gas for the airplane, and that they would be taking off right after she hung up. She asked the son to have their house-sitter turn on the runway lights on their airstrip. The son said that the pilot had a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver on board the airplane, and that the pilot's route would have been a straight line from Goodland to the airstrip. He said that they would have taken off at 1730 cst, and that the flight from Goodland to Grenola takes approximately 3 hours. He said this would have put them in at 2030 cst. The son said he called the house-sitter at 2100 cst. The house-sitter said that the pilot and his wife had not arrived yet. The son arrived at the house and the airstrip at 2200 cst. He said that he drove up and down the road in front of the house looking for signs of the airplane. At 2220 cst, the son called the Elk County, Kansas, Sheriff. The Sheriff told him that they were receiving an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal. PERSONNEL INFORMATION The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with single and multi-engine airplane ratings. The certificate cited a restriction prohibiting the pilot from carrying passengers for hire at night and on cross-country flights of more than 50 nautical miles. The pilot held a second-class medical certificate with privileges limited to crop-dusting. The certificate granted full third- class privileges. According to FAA medical records, the pilot reported on February 4, 1999, to have accumulated 5,100 total flying hours. The pilot's most recent personal logbook showed that the pilot last completed a biennial flight review on June 12, 1998. The pilot was self-employed as an agricultural spray (crop dusting) pilot. Records obtained from the FAA Aviation Data Systems Branch, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, revealed the pilot had been involved in two previous crop dusting-related airplane accidents; the first occurring on April 29, 1983, and the other on April 28, 1985. AIRCRAFT INFORMATION The airplane was registered to the Moline Flying Club, Incorporated, of Grenola, Kansas. It was co-owned by the pilot, his son, and two other associates. The airplane was used for pleasure flying. The airplane underwent an annual inspection on September 22, 1998. The total airframe time recorded at the annual inspection was 2,815.5 hours, and equaled the total tachometer time. The time taken from the engine's tachometer at the accident site was 2,827.0 hours. METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION At 2056 cst, the FAA Flight Service Station at Wichita Mid- Continent Airport, Wichita, Kansas, (287 degrees magnetic at 50 nautical miles from the accident site) reported the surface observation as a broken ceiling of 2,700 feet above ground level (agl), and 10 statute miles visibility. The temperature was reported as 36 degrees Fahrenheit, and the dew point was reported as 27 degrees Fahrenheit. The altimeter was reported as 30.40 inches of mercury (Hg), and the winds were 360 degrees magnetic at 8 knots, with wind gusts to 17 knots. At 2103 cst, the Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS) at Chanute Martin Johnson Airport, Chanute, Kansas, (065 degrees magnetic at 48 nautical miles from the accident site) reported the surface observation as a broken ceiling of 1,300 feet agl, an overcast ceiling of 1,800 feet agl, and 7 statute miles visibility. The temperature was reported as 37 degrees Fahrenheit, and the dew point was reported as 34 degrees Fahrenheit. The altimeter was reported as 30.36 inches Hg, and the winds were 360 degrees magnetic at 11 knots. WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION The NTSB on scene investigation began on February 21, 1999, at 1400 cst. The accident site was located on the eastern edge of a cow pasture, bordering a wooded area, approximately 2, 110 feet east of a north-south running unpaved county road. The accident site was also located 3,520 feet northeast of the Liebau Airstrip. The accident site began with a 25 foot tall, 7 inch diameter hedge tree located within the western edge of a wooded area approximately 80 feet east of a north-south running barbed-wire fence. Severed and broken branches, 1 to 3 inches in diameter, were scattered outward from toward the northwest beginning near the base of the tree. Two other hedge trees, one located approximately 30 feet west-northwest of the first hedge tree, and the other located 42 feet northwest of the first referenced hedge tree, were broken approximately two-thirds up their respective tree trunks from their root bases. Tree branches and trunk segments as small as 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter to as large as 5 feet in length and 6 inches in diameter, fanned outward to the west and northwest for approximately 90 feet. The broken trees aligned along a common descending angle of approximately 34 degrees. Pieces of plexiglass from the airplane's windscreen, pieces of fiberglass from the airplane's wing tips, aeronautical charts, and several small pieces of severed wood, fanned outward through the trees on the edge of the wooded area, along a 325 degree magnetic heading, to the barbed-wire fence. A 54 foot long, 78 inch wide, ground scar began 90 feet from the first hedge tree, on a 323 degree magnetic heading. The ground scar was 7 inches at its deepest point, one-third the distance from its start, on the southwest edge. The ground scar ran up the slope of a hill on a 16 degree incline, through the barbed- wire fence, and into the cow pasture. Several small pieces of fiberglass, plexiglass, charts and wood fragments were located in and around the west-northwest side of the ground scar. The airplane's propeller was located in the ground scar approximately 120 feet from the first hedge tree on a 324 degree magne ## Aircraft - Registration: [N1831Y](https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N1831Y-2000-04-14), registration cancelled 2000-04-14, S/N 17249431 (OpenAirDocs) - Reported make and model: Cessna 172C - Registry model: [Cessna 172C](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172c) (registry code 2072408) (OpenAirDocs) - Category: Airplane - Serial number: 172-49431 - Airframe hours: 2827 - Engines: Continental O-300-D 145 horsepower reciprocating - Damage: Destroyed - Flight: Personal, Part 91 - Registered owner: Moline Flying Club, Inc - Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Normal - Last inspection: Annual, September 22, 1998, 12 hours before - Departed: GLD, GOODLAND, KS - Destination: 45KS - Airport: 45KS, Liebau Airstrip, runway 18, 2,200 × 50 ft, grass/turf ## Flight crew As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names. - Pilot; age 65; commercial; airplane ratings: multi-engine land, single-engine land; medical: class 2, valid medical--w/ waivers/lim; seat: left; toxicology performed; flight hours: 5,100 total, 42 in this make and model, 5,036 as pilot in command, 10 in the last 30 days, 5 in the last 24 hours ## Weather - Conditions: Visual (VMC), Night/dark - Wind: 360° at 11 knots - Visibility: 7 statute miles - Lowest ceiling: 1,300 ft broken - Temperature: 37 °F, dew point 34 °F - Altimeter: 30.00 inHg - Observed at: CNU, 48 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 (OpenAirDocs). - [Accident 19990220001569A](https://openairdocs.org/incident/19990220001569A), Feb 20, 1999: Cessna 172C, Grenola, KS, Destroyed, 2 fatal. A/c crashed under unkn circumstances near a private airstrip. The 2 POB suffered fatal injuries. The acft was destroyed. (.19) on February 20, 1999, at 2115… From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.