Incident Overview
According to the operator, a pilot filed a visual flight plan to practice night landings. The pilot contacted the air traffic control tower around 1930, reporting inbound for touch-and-go landings from approximately 5 miles west of the airport. The controller instructed the pilot to enter a right downwind for runway 26R and to change to the correct frequency. The pilot indicated he did not have the current Automated Terminal Information Service (ATIS) for weather information; after changing frequencies, the controller provided the current weather.
Flight Path and Communications
The controller noticed the airplane just west of the 'Poggi' VOR, located 2.3 nautical miles north of the runways, and it appeared to be heading northbound away from the airport. The controller asked if the pilot had the airport in sight; the pilot responded he did not, but that he was practicing some maneuvers and was a little busy in the cockpit. A couple of minutes later, the airplane was observed approximately 7 miles north of the airport. The controller advised the pilot to report the prison if still inbound for a right base entry for runway 26R.
The next readable transmission from the airplane was 'encountering some soup.' According to the operator, upon entering clouds, the pilot initiated a 75 mph climb, followed by a right turn just before impact. The pilot did not respond to additional calls from the controller and was no longer observed on the D-Brite radar system.
Accident Site
The airplane collided with a 2,791-foot mountain about 7 miles north of the intended airport. According to VFR charts, the maximum elevation figure for the accident quadrangle/sector is 4,100 feet mean sea level.