What happened
During a visual flight rules (VFR) trip from Montpelier, Vermont, to Burlington, Vermont, an aircraft struck a mountain peak. The flight path required traversing a mountain range located between the two destinations. Shortly after departing Montpelier, the pilot contacted Burlington approach control to request clearance for instrument flight rules (IFR) to land in Burlington. At the time of this communication, the pilot reported being positioned 10 miles northwest of Montpelier.
Upon assigning a transponder code, the air traffic controller observed that the aircraft was operating near mountainous terrain at an unconfirmed altitude of approximately 3,500 feet. The controller notified the pilot that the aircraft was only two miles away from a mountain reaching an elevation of 4,393 feet. The pilot did not respond to this warning. The aircraft subsequently struck the eastern slope of Mt Ethan Allen at an altitude of 3,580 feet while traveling on a northwest heading. There were no survivors among the one fatality recorded.
Findings
Investigations into the accident identified several contributing elements regarding the flight conditions and pilot actions. The primary factor was the pilot flying into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) while operating under VFR. Other contributing factors included the presence of obscuring weather, as cloud ceilings were reported between 3,800 and 4,000 feet, and the challenging terrain of the mountainous region. Additionally, the pilot's request for clearance was deemed inadequate for the circumstances.