- Date
- June 20, 2020, 08:00 local (12:00 UTC)
- Place
- Elizabethton, TN
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3815ZBeech 77
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: VFR encounter with IMC
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200620005879A
- Case key
- 101465
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
The student pilot's decision to continue from visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in a collision with trees and mountainous terrain.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The student pilot and his passenger departed on a visual flight rules cross country flight and entered instrument meteorological conditions. The pilot decided to continue climbing, and when the airplane exited the clouds, the student pilot saw the top of a mountain and trees directly in front of him. He “stalled” the airplane to reduce speed and the airplane impacted trees at a speed of about 60 knots before it descended to the ground. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, but the student pilot and the passenger were uninjured. The student pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane what would have precluded normal operation. The pilot further stated that he made a mistake and took full responsibility for the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3815Z
- Reported as
- Beech 77 (No Series)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- WA-219
- Built
- 1981
- Airframe hours
- 6,547.4
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235 L2C, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 24, 2019
- Departed
- MOR · Morristown, TN
- Destination
- PHF · Newport News, VA
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B, Data recorder, Handheld GPS
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
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 150 total · 40 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,100 ft broken
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.14 inHg
- Observed at
- A09, 8 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.6 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.