Piper J5A accident at Mansfield, Ohio, 30 Nov 1943 (NC-35582)

Accident narrative

On November 30, 1943, at about 10:30 p.m., a Piper J5A (NC 35582) crashed near the Municipal Airport in Mansfield, Ohio, during a local night instruction flight. Instructor Frank Leroy Cornish and student George Edward Rieken were seriously injured, and the aircraft was demolished.

Taking off to the northwest, the aircraft encountered fog immediately after passing the airport's north boundary. The instructor took the controls, made a steep left turn out of the fog, and crossed back over the airport at an altitude of approximately 100 feet. Past the south boundary, he made another left turn to attempt a return to the takeoff runway. Now heading east, the aircraft entered another fog bank over a wooded area. It struck a large beech tree, continued into several other trees, and crashed to the ground inverted. Both men climbed out of the wreckage but became disoriented in the fog; they were walking away from the airport when search personnel found them.

Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of pre-impact failure. The investigation noted that the crew had flown earlier that evening, after which the airplane was placed in a heated hangar to thaw frost from its wings. For the accident flight, the instructor relied on a 6:30 p.m. weather report showing a nine-degree spread between temperature and dew point. He did not request three subsequent hourly reports, which showed the figures converging. By 10:30 p.m., the temperature was 29 and the dew point was 27.

The Board noted that the weather trends, the earlier frost, and the visual presence of fog banks near the field should have provided sufficient warning. The instructor stated that before starting the airplane, he thought it would be hazy, but that it looked clear everywhere except to the east.

The Board determined the probable cause of this accident was "the instructor's extremely poor judgment in attempting a flight in adverse weather when reports were available indicating such conditions."