Pilot Was Flying VFR In IFR Conditions, Three Fatally Injured

The NTSB has released a preliminary report from an accident which occurred on December 26 that resulted in the fatal injury of the three people on board a Cessna 182.

According to the report, the airplane was destroyed when it collided with mountainous terrain during descent for landing to Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge Airport (KGKT), Sevierville, Tennessee. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight

The airplane departed Keystone Airpark (42J), Keystone Heights, Florida, about 1300. Preliminary information from the FAA revealed the airplane was receiving visual flight rules flight-following services and was at 9,500 feet when the pilot requested a descent for landing at GKT. At 1554, the controller approved the descent and issued an altimeter setting. Radar data depicted a descent on a ground track of about 340 degrees, directly toward GKT, between 130 and 150 knots groundspeed.

At 1558, about 20 miles from KGKT, the airplane descended below the minimum vectoring altitude of 8,000 feet. The airplane continued its descent on the same ground track and about the same speed. At 1602, the radar target was at 5,400 feet, and abeam the peak of Mt. Conte (elevation 6,500 feet) when the radar target disappeared. At that time, the controller issued the airplane a radio frequency change to the GKT common traffic advisory frequency and terminated radar services. No reply was received from the accident airplane and no further attempts to contact the airplane were made.

The wreckage was located by helicopter at an elevation of 5,400 feet in steep, mountainous terrain about the same position as the last radar target. The wreckage was examined at the accident site by an FAA inspector. All major components of the airplane were accounted for at the scene; however, because of the hazardous conditions at the site, a brief photo-documentation of the wreckage was performed before it was recovered by helicopter for a detailed examination at a later date.

The pilot held a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine land. He was issued a third-class medical certificate on December 3, 2013, and he reported 12 total hours of flight experience on that date.

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov