Pilot disorientation probably caused the October 2002 fatal crash of a Cessna 208B Caravan in Alabama, the US National Transportation Safety Board says, confounding conspiracy theories that the aircraft collided with an unmanned air vehicle. The NTSB concludes red scuff marks on pieces of wreckage were caused by parts of the aircraft and its cargo, and not by a mid-air collision.
The single-turboprop Caravan, operated by Mid-Atlantic Freight, crashed near Spanish Fort, Alabama, on 23 October 2002 in night instrument meteorological conditions, killing the pilot, who was the sole occupant. The NTSB says the aircraft crashed after entering an uncontrolled descent from 3,000ft (900m), initiated immediately after the pilot received a second traffic advisory from air traffic control.
The board believes the pilot may have overreacted to the proximity of a FedEx Express McDonnell Douglas DC-10, which was 1.1nm (2km) away and 1,600ft above the Caravan. Simulations showed the aircraft experienced high bank and pitch angles shortly after the pilot transmitted “I needed to deviate”, rolling to a peak of 150°. The aircraft appeared to have almost recovered from the extreme attitudes at impact, the NTSB says.
The probable cause of the accident was spatial disorientation, the NTSB says, as the accident occurred at night, with the Moon obscured by low clouds and no visible horizon references between the cloud layers.
GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
