- Date
- January 26, 1989, 16:23 local (21:23 UTC)
- Place
- Spartansburg, PA
- Injuries
- 4 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N115DSGrumman GA-7
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 22, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890126001219A
- Case key
- 36265
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 pilots decision to disregard the weather forecast and attempt flight into known icing conditions. After the wings started to ice up, the pilot initiated a climb but could not maintain airspeed and inadvertantly stalled the aircraft which entered an uncontrolled high speed descent to the ground.
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
After receiving a weather briefing from fss the pilot decided to fly into known icing conditions with an aircraft that was neither certified nor equipped for flight into icing conditions. The aircraft was at 6,100 feet when the pilot told ATC that he was picking up ice and needed a higher altitude. He was cleared to 8,000 feet. According to ATC radar data, the aircraft reached 6,500 feet, and 12 seconds later it was at 3,500 feet when radar contact was lost. The aircraft was seen in a high speed dive at full power just prior to impact with the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N115DS
- Reported as
- Grumman GA-7
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- GA-70115
- Airframe hours
- 1,566
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320-D1D, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- David W. Sweigart, doing business as Elizabethtown Air Inc.
- Registered owner
- David W Sweigart
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 15, 1988 · 98 hours before
- Departed
- LNS · Lancaster, PA
- Destination
- MBS · Saginaw, MI
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 54
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 1,510 total · 780 in this make and model · 322 as pilot in command · 23 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,600 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 36 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ERI, 25 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.