Pilot And Passenger Fatally Injured

On April 19, 2018, at 0843 EDT, a Cirrus SR22 airplane, N451TD, impacted terrain near Williamsburg, PA. The private rated pilot and one passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed and a postimpact fire consumed most of the wreckage. The airplane was registered to CPD-JJD, LLC, and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan had been filed. The airplane departed Lancaster Airport (LNS), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at 0734 and was en route to South Bend International Airport (SBN), South Bend, Indiana.

According to the NTSB preliminary report on the accident, a review of the air traffic control (ATC) communication and radar data revealed that the airplane was en route to SBN on a heading about 284° and 6,000 ft mean sea level (msl). At 0828 the pilot requested to divert to John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport (JST), Johnstown, Pennsylvania, due to ice accumulation on the airplane. The controller advised the pilot that the clouds at JST were overcast at 200 ft and the clouds at Altoona-Blair County Airport (AOO), Altoona, Pennsylvania, were overcast at 500 ft. At 0830 the pilot requested vectors to AOO for an instrument approach. The pilot then requested to descend to 4,000 ft and the controller cleared him to 4,500 ft, which was the lowest altitude he could descended to in that area. At 0842 the controller advised the pilot that he passed through the localizer for the ILS approach to runway 21 at AOO and the pilot requested radar vectors to intercept the localizer again. At 0843 radar contact was lost and there were no additional communications from the pilot.

The pilot received a weather briefing and filed an IFR flight plan via Foreflight. At the time of the accident there were active AIRMETs for moderate icing, IFR/mountain obscuration, and low-level turbulence.

The airplane impacted a field in the backyard of a residential property 9.5 miles northeast of AOO. The wreckage debris path was about 200 ft long on a heading of 150°.

The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) activation handle remained in its holder with the safety pin installed and the CAPS rocket had fired after impact. The parachute was found deployed from the airplane and extended along of the debris path. A majority of the CAPS that remained within the main wreckage was consumed by fire.

(Source: NTSB. Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: Full report