What happened
On the morning of the accident, a flight operated by Blackhawk Airways was scheduled to depart at 10:00 EDT. While the exact time of takeoff remains unrecorded, witnesses near Keyser, West Virginia, observed an aircraft identified as N215W flying below the cloud layer at approximately 10:30. The aircraft was seen circling the area before traveling in a southwest direction.
Following the aircraft's failure to reach its intended destination, a search operation was initiated. The wreckage of the Cessna 172 (implied by context/type) was located approximately 6 miles southwest of Keyser, where it had struck rising, wooded terrain. The impact occurred on a slope of 26 degrees at an elevation of roughly 3,000 feet, just below a peak reaching 3,104 feet. At the time of the collision, the aircraft was in a climbing phase.
The pilot, who was the sole occupant of the aircraft, sustained fatal injuries in the crash. Local reports from an airport nearby indicated that heavy fog and a low ceiling of approximately 2,000 feet had persisted throughout the morning, leaving mountain tops obscured.
Findings
Investigations into the accident identified several contributing factors related to the pilot's decision-making and environmental conditions. Key findings include:
- Inadequate preflight planning and preparation by the pilot in command.
- The presence of challenging terrain characterized by hilly and rising ground.
- Adverse weather conditions, specifically involving fog, low cloud ceilings, and obscured mountain peaks.
- The pilot's decision to continue flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) while operating under visual flight rules (VFR).