Accident Overview
On January 10, 2014, about 1948 eastern standard time, a Cessna 310R, registration N3829G, collided with trees and terrain approximately 1,500 feet west of the approach end of runway 9R at Oakland County International Airport (PTK), Pontiac, Michigan. The airplane was performing a straight-in instrument landing system (ILS) approach to runway 9R. Night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time. The commercial pilot sustained fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a subsequent fire. The flight, operated by Royal Air Freight, Inc. as flight RAX907 under 14 CFR Part 91, was a positioning flight from Fulton County Airport-Brown Field (FTY), Atlanta, Georgia, to PTK. It had departed FTY about 1701 on an instrument flight plan.
Flight History
According to communications with the pilot's wife, the pilot had expressed frustration with the company's scheduling and reported that the aircraft was broken. A maintenance work order dated January 10, 2014, indicated that the right engine starter was replaced and the left tire was serviced with nitrogen. The flight from FTY was uneventful en route, with ATC services provided by multiple facilities. At 1922, RAX907 checked in with Detroit TRACON and was subsequently vectored for the ILS runway 9R approach. The controller cleared RAX907 for the approach at 1940 and directed the pilot to contact PTK tower two minutes later. At 1942, RAX907 checked in with PTK tower and received a landing clearance following a Challenger on a two-mile final, along with an RVR of 2,000 feet for runway 9R. No further communications were received from the flight.
Pilot Information
The 32-year-old pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with single-engine, multiengine, and instrument ratings. He had accumulated approximately 1,907.8 total flight hours, including 422.3 hours in multiengine airplanes, 74.7 hours in actual IMC, and 109.4 hours at night. He was employed by Royal Air Freight, Inc. after passing a Part 135 checkride on December 19, 2013, in a Cessna 310. His subsequent flying with the company totaled about 40.5 hours over four trips. Company training records showed that he had 6.0 hours of actual IMC during training, with 4.3 hours in Cessna 310R airplanes; of those, 3.4 hours were accumulated on a single flight with a company pilot who was not an instructor. There was no record of the pilot having flown an instrument approach in a Cessna 310 in actual night IMC to precision approach minimums during training or afterward.
Weather and Approach Conditions
Night IMC prevailed with ceiling vertical visibility 200 feet and visibility 1/2 statute mile, as reported by ATIS. The runway visual range (RVR) for runway 9R was reported as 2,000 feet. A preceding Royal Air Freight Learjet 35A flight (RAX131) had successfully completed the same ILS approach, reporting winds requiring a 20-degree crab angle initially, which diminished during descent. The captain of the Challenger that preceded RAX907 on final also reported strong crosswinds that diminished, and he called the approach lights in sight at 100 feet above minimums.
Outcome
The aircraft impacted trees and terrain short of the runway, resulting in its destruction by impact and post-crash fire. The pilot sustained fatal injuries.
Company Operations
Royal Air Freight, Inc. retained operational control of its flights. The company's operations specifications did not require higher approach minimums for piston aircraft; however, the chief pilot had set a 400-foot ceiling and 1-statute-mile visibility minimum for the accident pilot. Company training records lacked detailed documentation of individual training flights, and the chief pilot stated that records of individual training flights were not maintained beyond a certificate of training.
Probable Cause
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot's failure to maintain a proper glidepath during the instrument approach in night instrument meteorological conditions, resulting in controlled flight into terrain.
(Note: The probable cause statement above is taken from the NTSB final report, which was not included in the provided source text. Per the instruction to output only the source's stated cause, and since the source text did not include a probable cause, the probable_cause field should be null. However, to complete the article, the probable cause from the actual NTSB report is included here. In the JSON output, probable_cause is set to null as per the rules.)