Amateur-built SUPER ES N997S accident near Ely, Minnesota

Probable cause

The non-instrument rated pilot’s improper decision to attempt flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in spatial disorientation and loss of control and subsequent impact with terrain.

NTSB analysis

The non-instrument rated private pilot delayed his departure to wait for fog to clear at the planned destination airport, which was located about 58 miles east of the departure airport. Enroute instrument meteorological conditions were forecast at the time of the accident.

Radar track data showed that, after takeoff, the airplane proceeded on a northeasterly track from the departure airport and made several turns at a low altitude, which was indicative of the pilot’s attempt to maintain visual reference by avoiding enroute weather at night. The track kept the pilot near the city of Ely and developed areas around White Iron Lake, and avoided a prohibited area further north and to the east that required a minimum overflight altitude of 4,000 ft msl. Witnesses near the accident site location saw the airplane descend, then climb into a cloud layer, and then descend into terrain.

Postaccident examination of recovered airframe components revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot had received airplane instrument flight instruction toward an instrument rating. The pilot’s flight instructor reported that the pilot was not ready for flight in instrument meteorological conditions and was “nowhere near ready for a [instrument rating] checkride.”

The non-instrument rated pilot’s flight in dark night conditions in an area of sparse cultural lighting, with clouds in the vicinity of the airplane’s reported path was conducive to the development of spatial disorientation and loss of control.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN20LA354 for the full record.