CESSNA 182 — Fall City, WA

What happened

The private pilot intended to reposition the airplane for maintenance to an airport about 23 nautical miles north-northwest of the departure airport. Low ceilings and fog were predominant in the area, with treetops on the adjacent golf course to the west obscured by fog. At the time of departure, the ceiling at the airport was most likely low, but the pilot elected to depart. Recovered GPS data revealed that, immediately after taking off to the west, the pilot turned to the north toward rising terrain. The pilot then, most likely after encountering a low ceiling, started a left turn, during which the airplane ascended to an altitude of about 515 ft. About 16 seconds after starting the left turn, the airplane had descended to an altitude of about 217 feet and was heading south. The airplane then began to climb, and, 10 seconds later, the airplane had reached an altitude of 577 ft; it then began to descend and reached an altitude of 404 ft 7 seconds later, still on a southerly heading. The descent continued, and, 3 seconds later, the last recorded data point revealed that the airplane was at an altitude of 135 ft and a groundspeed of 124 knots on a southwesterly heading. The airplane subsequently impacted a tree on the golf course, traveled about 200 feet on a westerly heading before impacting a second tree, and came to rest about 60 feet west of the second tree in the middle of a fairway. Multiple witnesses on the golf course reported that the airplane was flying low on a southerly heading and that they heard the engine surge just before impact. All airplane components necessary for flight were accounted for at the accident site. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot likely took off and then realized that the ceiling was too low and the fog too dense for safe flight and attempted to return to the airport. The engine surge likely occurred as the pilot saw the tree just before impact.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.