- Date
- February 19, 1989, 19:15 local (Feb 20, 1989, 01:15 UTC)
- Place
- Blue Mountain, MS
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3937FCessna 172
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report March 12, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890219002319A
- Case key
- 32274
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 continuation of a VFR flight into night, instrument meteorological conditions and the spatial disorientation of the non-instrument rated pilot. Contributing to the accident were the adverse weather conditions and the overconfidence of the pilot.
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 non-inst rated plt & his wife landed short of their dest due to adverse wx during daylight hrs. He elected to continue the flt after dark in worsening wx in spite of being advised by a plt who had just flown the route that the wx was not good & the wife begging him not to continue. The wreckage was located 2 days later where it had crashed in a steep nose down attitude into a sparsely populated, rural, wooded area. A witness located about 9 miles from the crash site had observed an acft flying at about 200 feet in the direction of the crash site, along hwy 78, at about the time of the accident. The plt had less than 1 hr simulated instrument flt time & none since he took his pvt flt test about 18 months prior to the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3937F
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 36837
- Airframe hours
- 2,360
- Engine
- Continental O-300A, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Patrick E. Long
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 31, 1988 · 43 hours before
- Departed
- TUP · Tupelo, MS
- Destination
- MO1 · Memphis, TN
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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 163 total · 136 in this make and model · 2 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 150° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,400 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TUP, 36 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.