Cirrus Design Corp SR22 N18DN incident near Gunnison, Colorado

Probable cause

The pilot's improper decision to initiate the flight into an area with forecast icing conditions, which resulted in an encounter with in-flight icing conditions that prevented the airplane from being able to maintain altitude.

NTSB analysis

About 90 minutes before the flight, the pilot received a preflight weather briefing, which included an advisory for moderate icing between the freezing level (expected to be at or below 10,000 ft mean sea level [msl]) and 22,000 ft msl. The pilot reported that the airplane encountered instrument meteorological conditions with light icing accumulation about 45 minutes into the flight. The pilot advised an air traffic controller of the situation when the airplane was operating about 15,900 ft msl; however, before he had decided on an alternate route of flight, the icing conditions worsened, and the airplane was unable to maintain altitude. The controller noted that this was the first icing report in that vicinity although there had been earlier reports of light to moderate icing about 50 miles west of the airplane's position. Unsure of the height of the cloud bases in relation to the mountainous terrain below the airplane's flightpath, the pilot chose to deploy the parachute system. The airplane impacted a mountainside in about 10 ft of snow at an elevation of 11,000 ft msl. The pilot reported no preincident failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Available weather data at the time of the accident indicated that the freezing level was about 10,000 ft msl with clouds tops about 18,000 ft msl around the incident site.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN14IA139 for the full record.