- Date
- February 23, 1991, 20:30 local (Feb 24, 1991, 01:30 UTC)
- Place
- Everglades City, FL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N1469QCessna 150L
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report February 8, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910223003399A
- Case key
- 32825
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
Inadequate supervision by the flight instructor. Factors were: dark night condition, penetration of a cloud, and spatial disorientation resulting in a spiral.
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
During the return leg of a student plt solo cross country at night, the student plt flew into a cloud & became disoriented. The acft entered a spiral & descended until impact with terrain. There were no ground reference lights in the area of the loss of control. The student plt departed on the first leg (1 hr flt) of a two leg cross country flt 47 minutes before the official end of twilight. His CFI reportedly reviewed his flt planning but did not sign the student's logbook.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1469Q
- Reported as
- Cessna 150L
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15072769
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Trans-American Airways, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Trans-American Airways, Inc.
- Departed
- APF · Naples, FL
- Destination
- TMB · Miami, FL
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 28
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 27 total · 27 in this make and model · 8 as pilot in command · 27 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 330° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- APF, 32 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.