- Date
- March 16, 1989, 23:30 local (Mar 17, 1989, 05:30 UTC)
- Place
- Pascagoula, MS
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N80542Cessna 172M
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 24, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890316004069A
- Case key
- 32281
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
Continued flight by the pilot into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). Contributing factors were: inadequate preflight planning, weather conditions, pilot's lack of instrument flight time, lack of visual cues at night, and trees at the crash site.
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 acft was reported missing when it did not return to mobile after a trip to new orleans on 3/16/89. A search was initiated by the civil air patrol & the acft was found on 3/19/89 where it crashed near the arpt at Pascagoula, MS. Initial impact occurred with trees aprx 300 yards short of rwy 31. A witness said he heard an acft fly over the arpt at aprx 2330 CST. At that time, he noted the wx was extremely foggy. No preimpact part failure or malfunction was found during the investigation. The non-instrument rated plt had logged only about 65 hrs flt time.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N80542
- Reported as
- Cessna 172M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17266646
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Robert W. Barber
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 1988
- Departed
- NEW · New Orleans, LA
- Destination
- MOB · Mobile, AL
- Airport
- PGL · Jackson County, runway 31, 4,500 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 48
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 65 total · 27 in this make and model · 18 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 90° at 2 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 200 ft
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MOB, 40 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.