History of Flight
On September 11, 2008, at about 1915 central daylight time, a Cirrus Design Corporation SR22, registration N193BS, sustained substantial damage when it impacted terrain during a nonprecision instrument approach to runway 36 at the Lakeland Airport/Noble F. Lee Memorial Field (ARV), Minocqua-Woodruff, Wisconsin. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight was a Title 14 CFR Part 135 on-demand passenger flight operating on an IFR flight plan. The pilot and two revenue passengers received fatal injuries. The flight departed from General Mitchell International Airport (MKE), Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at 1745, en route to ARV. The airplane was registered to Bluesky Taxi Inc. (BST) and listed on Midwest Air Transport, Inc's (MAT) Part 135 operating certificate.
Earlier that day, the pilot had flown to Lafayette, Indiana. He told a friend that BST owners assigned flights, that there was no dispatcher, and that pilots tried to fly VFR to minimize costs. He also mentioned that the chief pilot of BST would call if he flew IFR unnecessarily.
The president of MAT stated that the accident flight was originally scheduled with a VFR-only pilot, but IMC conditions prevailed, so he called the accident pilot. The pilot was dispatched from DuPage Airport in N193BS.
At 1627, the pilot called Kankakee AFSS to file IFR flight plans from MKE to ARV and ARV to DPA. He specified the airplane equipment as "slash golf" (GNSS). The FSS specialist provided convective SIGMET and AIRMET for IFR.
At 1742, N193BS received IFR clearance to ARV. After departure, at 1831, Minneapolis ARTCC informed the pilot that the ARV NDB and ILS DME were out of service. The pilot expressed concern. Later, ATC cleared the airplane for the localizer 36 approach. During the approach, the pilot performed a 360-degree turn. At 1910, the final transmission from N193BS was received. The autopilot was turned off at 1910:24, and the final descent began. At 1912, the stall warning activated, and the recorded data ended.
A witness, the pilot of a Piper PA-32 that landed before the accident, reported that he heard N193BS's engine noise change to full power for 4-5 seconds, then a thud, and silence. He judged the airplane was south and west of the runway.
Pilot Information
The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with single-engine land and instrument airplane ratings. As of September 8, 2008, he had 2,212.5 total flight hours, 233.7 night hours, 140.7 actual instrument hours, and 118.9 simulated instrument hours. He held a second-class medical certificate issued March 10, 2008, with no limitations. He had no previous accidents or enforcement actions.
Training and Employment
The accident pilot had no prior Cirrus SR22 flight time before June 2008. From June 23 to July 14, 2008, he attended a "Blue Sky Taxi, Inc. Cirrus Transition Training" provided by Illinois Aviation Academy under Part 91, not Part 135. MAT's president also provided Part 135 training. The pilot's Flight Training Record showed 15 hours of training between June 24 and July 15, 2008, with the MAT president listed as instructor. However, a comparative review of the pilot's logbook showed discrepancies: some entries were signed by an Illinois Aviation Academy instructor, not the MAT president. On July 17, 2008, the pilot took an initial airman competency/proficiency check under Part 135, administered by an FAA principal operations inspector. He satisfactorily completed 7 of 32 elements and failed the instrument procedures portion relating to VOR approaches.
The MAT president stated that a background check per the Pilot Records Improvement Act was not performed. FAA Order 8000.88 states that an air carrier cannot place a pilot into service without obtaining and reviewing the last 5 years of records.
The pilot also flew traffic reports for WBBM Shadow Traffic and Angel Flights.