Introduction
A Cessna 182, registration C-GHKH, serial number 33353, owned by Fraser Valley Skydiving Centre Ltd, was destroyed when it collided with terrain near Chilliwack, British Columbia. The pilot was fatally injured. No emergency locator transmitter signal was received.
Sequence of Events
The aircraft took off from a private airstrip near Chilliwack at approximately 1840 Pacific daylight time with the pilot and four skydivers on board. Two skydivers were released at 3000 feet and two at 9000 feet. The aircraft failed to return to the strip. The Rescue Coordination Centre at Victoria was notified and a search was initiated. The wreckage was found six days later by a recreational paraglider pilot on a northwest-facing slope of the Skagit mountain range, four nautical miles from the airstrip, at an altitude of about 4600 feet above sea level.
Wreckage and Impact
The aircraft had hit tree tops before impacting a 45-degree slope. Tree damage and contact markings indicated that the aircraft struck the tree tops in a wings-level attitude, in a slight descent, and at relatively high speed. Fire consumed most of the left wing and cockpit area. The fuselage came to rest inverted on a heading of 120 degrees magnetic. The right wing separated from the fuselage. All control surfaces were accounted for. Flight control cable continuity was established for the right wing and rudder but could not be traced to the cockpit due to fire damage. No faults with the flight controls before impact were found.
The engine and propeller were examined on site and showed no pre-impact damage. The propeller remained attached to the crankshaft flange; both blades exhibited torsional twisting, S-bending, chord-wise scoring, and leading and trailing edge damage. The airspeed indicator showed a paint smear indicating an airspeed between 165 and 168 miles per hour indicated airspeed. The vertical speed indicator showed a descent rate of 840–880 feet per minute. The emergency locator transmitter sustained impact damage and did not operate.
Pilot Information
The pilot held a commercial pilot licence issued by Transport Canada, endorsed for single-engine land aeroplanes. The medical certificate required glasses or contact lenses and was valid until March 2004. The pilot had accumulated approximately 300 flying hours on light, single-engine aircraft, including about 40 hours on the Cessna 182. An autopsy and toxicology examination did not reveal any condition that could have led or contributed to the accident.
Weather Conditions
At the time of the accident, weather at Abbotsford (28 nautical miles south-southwest of the accident site) included wind 230° true at 5 knots, visibility 25 statute miles, a few clouds at 4500 feet, scattered at 6000 feet, and broken at 9000 feet. At Hope (21 nautical miles northwest), conditions were wind 290° true at 5 knots, visibility 9 statute miles, and broken clouds at 5100 feet. The graphical area forecast for the Fraser Valley area called for patchy broken altocumulus and scattered towering cumulus with prevailing visibility more than 6 statute miles in light rain showers. All four skydivers observed low-level cloud along the mountains to the southwest of the parachuting area and clouds on the tops of high terrain southeast of the airstrip.
Investigation Findings
Radar data, believed to be related to the flight, showed the aircraft manoeuvring in left-hand orbits. The last radar observation showed the aircraft on a heading of 010° true, about seven nautical miles northwest of the crash site. The pilot likely entered cloud inadvertently and, without an instrument rating and with only limited instrument flight training, continued to descend while expecting to break out of cloud. The descent took the aircraft into rising terrain. The engine was producing considerable power on impact, consistent with a normal descent after dropping skydivers.
Probable Cause
The pilot most likely entered cloud inadvertently and continued to descend in the expectation of breaking out of cloud, but flew into high terrain.