NTSB Releases Preliminary Report From South Dakota Fatal Accident | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-12.01.25

AirborneNextGen-
11.18.25

Airborne-Unlimited-11.19.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-11.20.25

AirborneUnlimited-11.21.25

LIVE MOSAIC Town Hall (Archived): www.airborne-live.net

Sat, Nov 02, 2019

NTSB Releases Preliminary Report From South Dakota Fatal Accident

Airplane Had Been Missing For Several Days, Pilot Was Not Certificated

The NTSB has released a preliminary report from an accident which occurred October 9th involving a Cessna 172 which went missing for nearly two weeks. The person flying the airplane, identified as 70-year-old Gerald Seliski, did not hold a pilot certificate, according to the FAA. He was fatally injured.

According to the report, the airplane was registered to and operated by Seliski. It was destroyed when it impacted terrain about 7 miles north of the Aberdeen Regional Airport (KABR), Aberdeen, South Dakota. The non-certificated pilot, who was the sole occupant, sustained fatal injuries. Dark night instrument meteorological conditions prevailed in the area and a flight plan was not filed. The flight originated from KABR about 2231 and its intended destination was Oaks, North Dakota.

According to records provided by the airport and a local fixed base operator (FBO), the airplane was flown to KABR by the pilot on September 30, 2019, to be assessed for an annual inspection. The pilot was informed by the FBO of what work needed to be accomplished to complete the annual inspection. The pilot decided not to have the work completed, and departed from ABR. Airport video surveillance records showed the airplane taking off from runway 31 about 2231 on October 9, 2019. The airplane wreckage was located on October 21, 2019, by a hunter and reported to local authorities. First responders identified the airplane and notified the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The NTSB arrived on scene on October 22, 2019.

The weather at KABR about the time of the accident was recorded at 2253 and reported 350° 19 knots with gusts to 27 knots, visibility 7 mile in light rain, sky condition broken clouds at 700 ft, overcast clouds at 1,400 ft, temperature 5° dewpoint temperature 3°, altimeter 29.94, peek wind 340° at 27 knots. According to residents who live near the accident site, the weather was cold, windy, low clouds, fog, and mist on the night of October 9th.

The airplane's wreckage was in a farmer's field, about 7 miles north of ABR, grid coordinates: 45.561709 N -098.460366 W. On scene observations showed evidence that the airplane initially impacted a 60-ft tall tree with its left wing. Debris was scattered beyond the initial impact of the tree on a heading of 148°. The fuselage skidded along the ground for about 500 ft, and came to rest on the edge of a small pond. Both wings remained attached to the fuselage with extensive crush damage. The cabin section opened during the impact sequence. The tail separated about flight station (FS) 90 and was partially attached by control cables. The vertical fin and rudder separated during the impact sequence and were found about 15 ft in front of the main wreckage.

Flight control cable continuity was established from all control surfaces to the cockpit controls. All flight controls remained attached to the respecting surface. The flap handle (bar) was observed in the third notch (30° of flaps). The firewall and engine separated and was found about 20 ft in front of the main wreckage, submerged in standing water. The propeller assembly was found fractured at the engine crank flange and both propeller blades were twisted. The airframe fuel system could not be examined due to impact damage. Both fuel tanks were compromised and impact damaged.

Maintenance logbooks and the pilot's logbook were not found. After the on-scene examinations were completed, the wreckage was moved to a secure facility in Lakeville, Minnesota.

(Source: NTSB. Image from file)

FMI: Report

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.28.25): Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)

Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) An unmanned aircraft and its associated elements related to safe operations, which may include control stations (ground, ship, or air based), control>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (11.28.25)

Aero Linx: Cactus Fly-In The Classic Airplane Association of Arizona, Inc. (CAAA) was incorporated in Arizona as a not for profit corporation on January 10, 2014. The CAAA roster i>[...]

Airborne 11.21.25: NTSB on UPS Accident, Shutdown Protections, Enstrom Update

Also: UFC Buys Tecnams, Emirates B777-9 Buy, Allegiant Pickets, F-22 And MQ-20 The NTSB's preliminary report on the UPS Flight 2976 crash has focused on the left engine pylon's sep>[...]

Airborne 11.26.25: Bonanza-Baron Fini, Archer v LA NIMBYs, Gogo Loses$$$

Also: Bell 505 on SAF, NYPA Gets Flak For BizAv 'Abuse', FAA Venezuela Caution, Horizon Update Textron Aviation has confirmed it will be ending production of the Beechcraft Bonanza>[...]

Airborne-NextGen 11.25.25: EHang Manned Flt, Army UAVs, Starship V3 Booster Boom

Also: FedEx SAF, Archer Midnight Powertrain Tech, Rocket Lab Record, Perseverance Rover Find EHang has logged a major milestone in the development of its pilotless air taxi, loggin>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC


Debugging Information
ColdFusion Server Enterprise 2023,0,16,330828
Template /subscribe.cfm
Time Stamp 02-Dec-25 01:14 AM
Locale English (US)
User Agent Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
Remote IP 10.0.20.1
Host Name 10.0.20.1


Execution Time

Total Time Avg Time Count Template
71 ms 71 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc | onRequest(/subscribe.cfm) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc
70 ms 70 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/parsed/main.textpost.cfm
48 ms 48 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/actTextPost.cfm
10 ms 10 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc | onRequestStart(/subscribe.cfm) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc
5 ms 5 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/dspBannerAds.cfm
3 ms 3 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/actWidgets.cfm
3 ms 3 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/dspWidgets.cfm
2 ms 2 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fusebox.init.cfm
2 ms 2 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryTextPost.cfm
2 ms 2 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc | compileRequest(main.textpost, CFC: fckeditor.fb551.fusebox5.myFusebox) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc
1 ms 1 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryAnnouncements.cfm
1 ms 1 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/display/dspTextPost.cfm
1 ms 1 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_234BannerZone.cfm
1 ms 0 ms 13 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/components/utils.cfc | RandomNumber() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/components/utils.cfc
1 ms 1 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxEvent.cfc | init([complex value], [complex value], CFC: fckeditor.fb551.fusebox5.myFusebox) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxEvent.cfc
1 ms 1 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc | init(fusebox, [complex value], [complex value]) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/CustomTags/bph/QuerySim.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/cftags/sharelinks.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/comments/actDisqus.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/actFooter.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryAudio.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryNewscats.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryWidVideo.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/comments/dspDisqus.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/display/dspAnnouncements.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/dspNewscats.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/dspSidebar.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/layAnnNew.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_admin.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_flashAd.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_podcasts.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_search.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_today.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_topvideos.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc | onRequestEnd(/subscribe.cfm) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/components/utils.cfc | tagstripper(<h2>Airplane Had Been Missing For Several Days, Pilot Was Not Certificated</h2>

The NTSB has released a preliminary report from an accident which occurred October 9th involving a Cessna 172 which went missing for nearly two weeks. The person flying the airplane, identified as 70-year-old Gerald Seliski, did not hold a pilot certificate, according to the FAA. He was fatally injured.

) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/components/utils.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxAction.cfc | getAccess() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxAction.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc | expandFuseboxPath(parsed/) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 2 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc | getCoreToAppRootPath() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc | getVersion() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 2 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc | getMyself() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc | getSelf() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc | trace(Fusebox, Request completed) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc
6 ms  STARTUP, PARSING, COMPILING, LOADING, & SHUTDOWN
87 ms  TOTAL EXECUTION TIME
red = over 250 ms average execution time


SQL Queries

post (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=2ms, Records=1) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryTextPost.cfm @ 01:14:17.017
SELECT
	cb.ContentBlockID as id,
	cb.ContentBlockName as title,
	cb.Display,
	ct.DisplayTemplate,
	cb.HTMLContent as description,
	cb.ForumCode,
	cb.Icon,
	convert(varchar(20), cb.Display, 111) AS GroupDate,
	t.TeaserText as teaser,
	cb.SortOrder
FROM
	vwContentBlock cb INNER JOIN ContentType ct
	ON cb.ContentTypeCode = ct.ContentTypeCode
	LEFT OUTER JOIN Teaser t
	ON cb.ContentBlockID = t.ContentBlockID AND t.TeaserType <> 'L'
WHERE
	cb.ContentBlockID = ?
	AND Status IN ('60','80') AND (Display <{ts '2025-12-02 01:14:17'} OR Display IS NULL)
Query Parameter Value(s) -
Parameter #1(CF_SQL_varchar) = 3F7E7899-44D7-423A-BC7A-9BC26B5DF2A4

GetAnnouncements (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=1, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryAnnouncements.cfm @ 01:14:17.017
SELECT HTMLContent
FROM ContentBlockLive
WHERE ContentBlockKey = 'ANNOUNCE' 
	AND Status = 60 
	AND ((Display <{ts '2025-12-02 01:00:00'} OR Display IS NULL) 
	AND (Expire > {ts '2025-12-02 01:00:00'} OR Expire IS NULL))
qryAudio (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=0, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryAudio.cfm @ 01:14:17.017
SELECT NewID() as id,
	CAST(episodesid AS VARCHAR(38)) as myid,
	title,
	CAST(subtitle  AS Varchar(800)) as teaser, 
	CAST(summary AS Varchar(2000)) as description,
	ApprovedDate as published,
	episodefile as filelocation, 
	podcastsid as categoryid,
	CAST('audio' AS char(8)) as mytype,
	ApprovedDate as GroupDate,
	SPACE(2) AS previewimage,
	0 AS sortorder
FROM episodes
	WHERE Approved = 1 
		
	AND ApprovedDate <{ts '2025-12-02 01:00:00'} ANd ApprovedDate > {ts '2025-11-28 01:00:00'} 

Order By published DESC, sortorder DESC
qryWidVideo (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=3, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryWidVideo.cfm @ 01:14:17.017
SELECT TOP 3
videoId as id, 
	convert(varchar(38), videoId) as myid, 
	title, 
	CAST(description AS Varchar(2000)) as description, 
	Cast(teaser AS Varchar(800))as teaser,
	published,
	filelocation, 
	categoryid,
	CAST('video' AS char(8)) as mytype,
	published as GroupDate,
	previewimage,
	0 AS sortorder
	
FROM Videos
WHERE active = 1 AND approved = 1 AND published <{ts '2025-12-02 01:00:00'} 
ORDER BY published DESC
widgetsorted (Datasource=, Time=3ms, Records=6) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\actWidgets.cfm @ 01:14:17.017
SELECT *
	FROM qryWidgets
	WHERE wname IN('flashAd','today','search','podcasts','topvideos','adsection234')
	ORDER By sortorder
NewsCategories (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=7, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryNewscats.cfm @ 01:14:17.017
SELECT 
			ContentTypeName, ContentTypeCode
		FROM ContentType 
		WHERE CategoryCode = 'NEWS' AND CONTENTTYPECODE <> 'ATRVNW'
		ORDER BY ContentTypeName
NewsCategories2 (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=8, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryNewscats.cfm @ 01:14:17.017
SELECT 
			ContentTypeName, ContentTypeCode
		FROM ContentType 
		WHERE CategoryCode = 'NEWS'
		ORDER BY ContentTypeName


Scope Variables

CGI Variables:
AUTH_PASSWORD=
AUTH_TYPE=
AUTH_USER=
CERT_COOKIE=
CERT_FLAGS=
CERT_ISSUER=
CERT_KEYSIZE=
CERT_SECRETKEYSIZE=
CERT_SERIALNUMBER=
CERT_SERVER_ISSUER=
CERT_SERVER_SUBJECT=
CERT_SUBJECT=
CF_TEMPLATE_PATH=C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\subscribe.cfm
CONTENT_LENGTH=0
CONTENT_TYPE=
CONTEXT_PATH=
GATEWAY_INTERFACE=CGI/1.1
HTTPS=off
HTTPS_KEYSIZE=
HTTPS_SECRETKEYSIZE=
HTTPS_SERVER_ISSUER=
HTTPS_SERVER_SUBJECT=
HTTP_ACCEPT=*/*
HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING=gzip, br, zstd, deflate
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE=
HTTP_CONNECTION=Keep-Alive
HTTP_COOKIE=CFTOKEN=df0b2daf3838fcd2-A8F5BF69-B87A-E4B0-7C13481964D10671; CFID=5112093; JSESSIONID=D6367FB11B926ED3A378EE7D75FB0B67.cfusion
HTTP_HOST=www.aero-news.net
HTTP_REFERER=
HTTP_URL=/subscribe.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=3F7E7899-44D7-423A-BC7A-9BC26B5DF2A4
HTTP_USER_AGENT=Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
LOCAL_ADDR=10.0.20.10
PATH_INFO=
PATH_TRANSLATED=C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\subscribe.cfm
QUERY_STRING=do=main.textpost&id=3F7E7899-44D7-423A-BC7A-9BC26B5DF2A4
REMOTE_ADDR=10.0.20.1
REMOTE_HOST=10.0.20.1
REMOTE_USER=
REQUEST_METHOD=GET
SCRIPT_NAME=/subscribe.cfm
SERVER_NAME=www.aero-news.net
SERVER_PORT=80
SERVER_PORT_SECURE=0
SERVER_PROTOCOL=HTTP/1.1
SERVER_SOFTWARE=Microsoft-IIS/10.0
WEB_SERVER_API=
Cookie Variables:
CFID=5112093
CFTOKEN=df0b2daf3838fcd2-A8F5BF69-B87A-E4B0-7C13481964D10671
JSESSIONID=D6367FB11B926ED3A378EE7D75FB0B67.cfusion
Session Variables:
sessionid=D6367FB11B926ED3A378EE7D75FB0B67.cfusion
urltoken=CFID=5112093&CFTOKEN=df0b2daf3838fcd2-A8F5BF69-B87A-E4B0-7C13481964D10671&jsessionid=D6367FB11B926ED3A378EE7D75FB0B67.cfusion
URL Parameters:
do=main.textpost
id=3F7E7899-44D7-423A-BC7A-9BC26B5DF2A4
Debug Rendering Time: 39 ms