VFR into IMC · NTSB CEN20FA019
RAYTHEON A36 — San Marcos, TX
| Date | November 20, 2019 |
| Location | San Marcos, TX |
| Aircraft | RAYTHEON A36 |
| Purpose of flight | Business |
| Conditions | Dawn · Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Initial climb Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT) |
| Pilot age | 48 |
| Pilot total time | 605 hrs · Building experience |
| Time in type | Unknown |
| Fatalities | 1 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Not determined-Not determined-(general)-(general)-Unknown/Not determined - C
- Personnel issues-Action/decision-(general)-(general)-Pilot - C
- Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Ceiling/visibility/precip-Low visibility-Not specified
What happened
The pilot filed an instrument flight rules flight plan for the cross-country flight and received a departure clearance. A witness reported seeing the accident airplane taxi by his hangar before it departed and noted that the visibility at the time was less than the 1/4-mile reported by the airport’s weather observation facility. The airplane departed and was seen on radar before contact was lost shortly thereafter; the pilot never established radio communication with air traffic control. The airplane impacted terrain in a near-vertical attitude about 1/2-mile from the departure runway. Examination of the airplane did not reveal any pre-impact anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Low instrument flight rules conditions prevailed in the area of the departure airport, including a cloud ceiling of about 300 ft above ground level.
The airplane’s sudden descent and near-vertical impact attitude are consistent with a loss of control shortly after takeoff; however, due to a lack of onboard data and complete radar data for the flight, the reason for the loss of control could not be determined based on the available information.