Weather (Other) · NTSB SEA08LA072
Wooters Lancair ES — Albany, OR
| Date | February 8, 2008 |
| Location | Albany, OR |
| Aircraft | Wooters Lancair ES (amateur-built) |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Enroute-climb to cruise Other weather encounter |
| Pilot age | 32 |
| Pilot total time | 550 hrs · Building experience |
| Time in type | Unknown |
| Fatalities | 3 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Temp/humidity/pressure-Conducive to structural icing-Not specified - F
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-(general)-Pilot - F
- Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Incorrect action selection-Pilot - F
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
What happened
The non-instrument rated, private pilot filed an instrument flight plan for a cross-country flight, in an airplane not equipped for in-flight icing encounters. The pilot was seated in the right seat, and the airplane's owner, also a non-instrument rated private pilot, was seated in the left seat. Family members indicated that the pilot and the owner/pilot flew together often, and the right seat pilot would provide radio and navigation assistance to the owner/pilot. Based on the available evidence, investigators were unable to determine who was flying the airplane at the time of the accident. The airplane was cleared to climb to 13,000 feet, and approximately 8 minutes after departure, declared an emergency and was lost from radar. Data obtained from instrumentation on board the airplane indicated that after attaining approximately 10,400 feet, the airplane entered a rapid descent. Weather information at the time of the accident showed that icing conditions were forecast along the route of flight. Records show multiple weather information requests from the right seat pilot's computer log-on information to a digital weather service provider the night prior to the accident, and the left seat owner/pilot received a weather briefing via telephone the night prior to the accident. All briefings indicated that visual flight rules to marginal visual flight rules conditions were forecast, and there were airman's meteorological information (AIRMETs) advisories for mountain obscuration, icing, and turbulence.