- Date
- July 5, 2022, 13:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Plymouth, CT
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N2423ACessna A185F
- Defining event
- Initial climb: Windshear or thunderstorm
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · 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
- FAA report
- 20220705011929A
- Case key
- 105428
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 pilot’s encounter with known and forecast adverse weather which resulted in a collision with trees during the initial climb.
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 pilot described the takeoff from the 2,000 ft-long turf runway surrounded by tall trees. He stated the airplane was making “takeoff power” and that all instruments were “in the green.” At the departure end of the runway the airplane encountered “windshear or a downdraft” and that the leaves in the treetops were being “pushed down.” The 6,000-hour pilot said he had never encountered windshear or a downdraft like it before. He said he adjusted the pitch attitude to best angle of climb, but that the airplane settled into the trees and descended to the ground while substantially damaging the wings, fuselage, and the empennage. The Federal Aviation Administration inspector who responded to the accident site discussed the forecast and PIREPS for low-level windshear with the pilot. The pilot said he had reviewed the weather, but as it was “nothing he hadn’t flown in before,” he elected to depart. The pilot reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2423A
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18504225
- Airframe hours
- 6,191
- Engine
- Continental IO520D, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Hutter Charles G
- Registered owner
- Hutter Charles G
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 24, 2021 · 14 hours before
- Destination
- KWST · Westerly, RI
- Airport
- N41 · Waterbury, runway 17, 2,005 × 135 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 78
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Private, Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 7,400 total · 400 in this make and model · 7,300 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 8 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.04 inHg
- Observed at
- KOXC, 10 nm away
- METAR
- KOXC 051651Z 20008G15KT 10SM CLR 27/15 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP177 T02670150
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 24, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.5 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.