C182 Flying To NASCAR Race Impacted Lake March 8

Low visibility conditions and a pilot's lack of an instrument rating may have been factors in the downing earlier this month of a Cessna 182 in Carroll County, GA that claimed the lives of all three people onboard the aircraft.

As ANN reported, pilot Brian Kearney, his wife Christa and friend Timothy Dean Miller were en route from Cobb County Airport (RYY) in Kennesaw to Clayton County Airport (4A7) in Hampton on the morning of March 8. The aircraft crashed into a lake near Carrollton, well to the west of the aircraft's expected flight path between those two points. Friends said the trio planned to attend the NASCAR Kobalt Tools 500 stock car race south of Atlanta.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report, it wasn't a good day at all for VFR flying. Weather along the route was solid IMC, with conditions at an airport 26 miles southeast of the accident site reported as overcast at 300 feet, with 1/4 statute mile visibility. Temperature and dewpoint were both reported as 11 degrees Celsius.

That coincides with accounts from witnesses near the accident site, who told investigators "low cloud cover" was hanging over the lake the plane impacted. Another said conditions were "very foggy" at the time of the crash.

"A witness near the accident site stated she heard a "whining high speed sound" followed by a "thud." She noticed water splashing up from the lake, into the air, which was followed by silence," reads the prelim.

No control linkage or mechanical discrepancies were noted with the aircraft, apart from a cylinder intake valve likely displaced by impact forces. The NTSB noted Kearney -- who appears to have been a relatively low-time pilot, with 114 hours logged as of February 2008 -- did not have an instrument rating.

FMI: Read The Full Prelim