What happened
During a night mission for mosquito abatement, a two-person crew was performing a visual approach to land at their home airfield. While the aircraft was on the left base leg, it drifted away from the runway's extended centerline. The aircraft subsequently struck 80-foot-tall power transmission towers before impacting the ground. There were 0 survivors in the crash.
Findings
Post-accident inspections of the aircraft showed no mechanical failures or anomalies that would have prevented standard operation. Both the pilot and the copilot were highly experienced in night operations at this specific location, with the pilot having 14 years of experience at the airport and the copilot having 31 years. This familiarity may have contributed to crew complacency during the approach.
Although there was sufficient visibility and moonlight, the approach area consists of a marsh with no artificial lighting. This environment can create a black-hole illusion, where pilots misjudge their altitude and believe the aircraft is higher than its actual position. It is believed the pilot followed an approach profile that was too low for the remaining distance to the runway due to this illusion. Additionally, the crew likely failed to monitor the altimeter and radar altimeter effectively, and the copilot did not sufficiently track the aircraft's progress. The crew also likely neglected to use the airport's visual glidepath indicator, which is designed to prevent premature descents during visual approaches.