What happened
On February 21, 2008, a Piper PA-28-161 Warrior III, registration N60842, was lost in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 120 miles southeast of Vik, Iceland. The aircraft was performing a ferry flight from Reykjavik Airport (BIRCO) to Wick Airport (EGPC) as part of a mission to move the airplane from the United States to Germany.
Prior to departure, the pilot had been advised to delay the flight until icing conditions had cleared from the route, but the pilot elected to depart on the day of the accident. During the flight, the pilot was unable to contact Scottish or Reykjavik Oceanic air traffic control directly and instead used another aircraft, N225PB, to relay messages. At 11:15 UTC, the pilot reported encountering heavy icing and began descending from 11,000 feet. At 11:24 UTC, a MAYDAY call was relayed to air traffic control, and by 11:25 UTC, the pilot reported a loss of engine power. An emergency locator transmitter signal was detected by a satellite, but search and rescue operations were unable to locate the aircraft or the pilot. The pilot was presumed to have sustained 1 fatal injury.
Findings
- The pilot's decision to fly into weather conditions that were forecast to be suitable for structural icing.
- The impact of the structural icing encountered during the flight.