MIA07FA029

Prior to takeoff, the pilot contacted Eglin Clearance Delivery for a weather briefing. He was informed of severe thunderstorms in the area and worked out a plan with the Clearance Delivery operator to avoid them. The flight originated from Destin Florida Airport, Destin, Florida about 0832 central standard time en route to Marsh Harbor, Bahamas. Eglin South Approach Control provided vectors to steer the flight around the weather. At 0841:30, the flight was handed off to Tyndall Approach Control. The flight was informed that it was entering "a line of weather that's going to continue for the next 15 miles." At 0844:10, Tyndall Approach Control alerted all aircraft of "hazardous weather." Tyndall Approach Control also informed the flight that their station was not equipped with the same detailed weather radar that Eglin had, and instructed the flight to continue on its current vector, which was provided by Eglin. About 4 minutes later, the pilot contacted ATC to request a block altitude clearance because he was "up and down here quite a bit." The controller provided a clearance for 4,000 through 6,000 feet. The pilot acknowledged the clearance, and there were no further communications with the flight. The pilot and four passengers were fatally injured, and the aircraft was destroyed after impacting the ground near Greenhead, Florida. According to the Sheriff, the property owner who initially located the wreckage, said that there was heavy rain, thunder, lightning and wind in the area at the time of the accident. The NTSB conducted a meteorological study and weather data along with the airplane's track and found it to be consistent with the airplane encountering a level 5 thunderstorm.

History of flight

On December 22, 2006, about 0849 central standard time, a Cessna 421B Golden Eagle airplane, N70BC, registered to and operated by Island Times LLC, as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed in Greenhead, Florida. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The airline transport-rated pilot and four passengers received fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed. The flight originated in Destin, Florida, the same day, about 0832, and was en route to the Bahamas.

Records obtained from the FAA showed that the pilot of N70BC had contacted Eglin Clearance Delivery at 0805:35 to "talk to somebody about the weather." For about fifteen minutes, the accident pilot and Eglin Clearance Delivery discussed the location of weather systems in Northern Florida, and a route of flight that could avoid them. The weather systems mentioned in their conversation included level 6 thunderstorms, which FAA Advisory Circular AC 00-24B described as "extreme" with severe turbulence, lightning, large hail, and extensive surface wind gusts and turbulence.

At 0829:41, a controller with Eglin South Approach Control cleared the pilot of N70BC for departure on runway 32, en route to Marsh Harbor, Bahamas. The pilot was instructed to, after takeoff, "turn right heading zero niner zero maintain two thousand." And the pilot of N70BC acknowledged. At 0832:48, the pilot reported that they had taken off, and was "climbing to two thousand." South Approach Control instructed the flight to "climb and maintain five thousand." At 0833:17, South Approach Control informed the flight that "in about another three miles I'm showing ... no weather at all between you and Pensacola."

For the next seven minutes, South Approach Control proceeded to vector N70BC around "some weather that's going to be southeast of your position" and around traffic, until the flight was able to reach five thousand feet. At 0835:18, South Approach Control informed N70BC that "there's so much weather around I don't have a lot of area to vector you in." At 0840:23, South Approach Control instructed N70BC to "contact Tyndall Approach on one one niner point one and advise them of your heading." The pilot of N70BC acknowledged at 0840:31.

At 0841:30, the pilot of N70BC contacted Tyndall Approach Control, and at 0841:44, Tyndall Approach responded saying, "roger. Yeah I'm showing you just entering a line of weather that's going to continue for the next 15 miles."

N70BC was instructed to maintain the last heading given by Eglin. At 08:44:10, Tyndall Approach stated, "Attention all aircraft, hazardous weather information airmets sierra, tango, and zulu for TN, WV, VA, MS, LA, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC and coastal waters available on HIWAS, Flight Watch, and Flight Service frequencies.

The pilot of N70BC contacted Tyndall Approach at 0844:52, to ask if they "still show this a good heading?" and at 0844:58, the Tyndall Approach controller responded, "fly heading 1-1-0". At 0845:07, the Tyndall Approach controller said to the pilot of N70BC "I don't have the weather radar that Eglin had. They put you up in this area based on the different levels of precipitation that they are showing. So all I show is precipitation returns. I'm showing you beginning line of a band of weather and on that 110 heading you'll be breaking out of it in about 15 miles."

N70BC acknowledged "Ok good copy Bravo Charlie." At 0848:38, N70BC requested a block clearance because he was "up and down here quite a bit."

Tyndall Approach approved a clearance for 4,000 through 6,000, and the pilot of N70BC acknowledged at 0848:46. There were no further communications with the flight.

According to the Tyndall controller, the aircraft was on the 012 degree radial at 12 miles from the Panama City VOR, at the time of the last radio communications contact.

Personnel information

The pilot held certificates for commercial pilot with single- and multi-engine land ratings, commercial helicopter with instrument rating, instrumental airplane with single- and multi-engine ratings, and certified flight instructor with single-engine, multi-engine and instrument airplane ratings, and was also a FAA Designated Pilot Examiner. The pilot held an FAA Class 2 medical certificate, issued in December, 2005.

The pilot's logbook was available to the NTSB, but a resume that had been included in copies of a flight training record indicated that the pilot had accumulated about 15,000 total flight hours, including about 8,000 hours as a FAA certificated flight instructor, about 14,500 hours as the pilot-in-command, about 8,000 hours in multi-engine aircraft, about 2,000 instrument hours, and about 900 hours with the Cessna 400 series airplane. The information also showed that the pilot possessed experience with a wide range of other aircraft, including gliders, helicopters, and military jets to include the AV-8B Harrier and the F-104 Starfighter airplanes, and that he was a graduate of USAF Experimental Test Pilot School.

Aircraft information

N70BC was a 1974 Cessna 412B, serial number 421B0813. Information obtained from the aircraft's maintenance records showed that the aircraft had received an annual inspection on November 5, 2006, at which time it had accumulated about 6,477.8 hours.

The airplane was equipped with two engines that were mounted on the respective wings. A 375-horsepower Continental GTSIO-520-HIB engine, serial number 267338-R was mounted on the left, and a 375-horsepower Continental GTSIO-520-H engine, serial number 600096 was mounted on the right. Inspections were last performed on the engines on November 5, 2006, at which time they were noted to have been in service for 1297.3 hours and 4,324.3 hours respectively.

The airplane was equipped with two full-feathering McCauley 3AF34C92 propellers, on the left propeller the serial number was 743409, and that on the right was 794955. As of November 5, 2006, the logbook information showed that the propellers had been in service for about 1,294.3 hours.

Meteorological information

Panama City, Florida (PFN) is located about 15 nautical miles south of the last radar location for N70BC. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and the 0853, Panama City Airport (PFN) surface weather observation was: wind from 190 degrees at 12 knots, visibility 5 statute miles, ceiling 600 feet overcast, temperature 22 degrees Celsius, dew point temperature 21 degrees Celsius, and the altimeter setting was 29.98 inHG.

Several SIGMETS and AIRMETS had been issued pertinent area and/or time of the flight. Convective SIGMETs and AIRMETs are issued by the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) in Kansas City, Missouri.

Convective SIGMET (WST) 17E was issued December 22, 2006, at 1255Z, and was stated to be valid until December 22, 2006 at 1455Z, and encompassed an area of embedded thunderstorms moving from 220 degrees at 20 knots, with tops to FL400.

Convective SIGMET 18E was issued December 22, 2006, at 1255Z and valid until December 22, 2006 at 1455Z, and encompassed an area of thunderstorms moving from 220 degrees at 25 knots, with tops to FL410.

Convective SIGMET 19E had been issued December 22, 2006, at 1355Z, and was valid until December 22, 2006 at 1555Z. It encompassed an area of embedded thunderstorms moving from 220 degrees at 25 knots, and with tops to FL400.

Convective SIGMET 21E was issued on December 22, 2006, at 1455Z, and was valid until December 22, 2006, at 1655Z. It involved a line of embedded thunderstorms 15 nautical miles wide moving from 240 degrees at 20 Knots, and with tops to FL400.

AIRMET Sierra Update 1 for IFR issued December 22, 2006 at 0845Z and valid until December 22, 2006 at 1500Z. Ceiling below 1,000 feet, and visibility below 3 miles in precipitation, mist and fog.

At 1445Z, December 22, 2006, AIRMET Sierra U