Page:CAB Accident Report, Beechcraft C-18-S on 1 September 1959.pdf/5

- 5 - Possibly Priest did see the lights of McGrath, as he said, but lost them as he descended and a hilltop blocked vision. It is extremely unlikely that he could have seen other lights which he mistook for McGrath, as there were no clusters of lights between him and McGrath. It is also unlikely that he could have seen the lights of Tatalina Aircraft Control and Warning Site as it was hidden by a hill. The weather he encountered was substantially as forecast and the flight, therefore, should not have been hampered by unexpected weather conditions upon nearing McGrath.

The Board concludes that this accident was entirely operational in nature and that it had its inception in two basic circumstances. One, a pilot of questionable instrument ability became lost and climbed into an area where instrument proficiency was necessary; two, based on the amount of fuel carried and the elapsed time involved, it is likely that fuel exhaustion occurred at approximately the time when control of the aircraft was lost.

The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot's loss of control while flying under instrument flight conditions, and failure to recover control. Contributing factors were poor flight planning, possible fuel exhaustion, and the pilot's lack of instrument proficiency.

BY THE CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD