Piper PA-28-140 | N9626K

The DTSB determines the Probable Cause of this accident to be Pilot Error, in that the non instrument rated pilot elected to continue on towards his intended destination during periods of lowering cloud cover and reduced visibility due to fog. The pilot continued VFR flight into ever deteriorating low IMC conditions. The pilot rated landowner, whose property the airplane impacted, stated the clouds were at about 100 ft above the ground when he initially heard the airplane fly by. Several minutes later he heard the airplane at a very high rpm followed by a loud “pop” and silence afterwards. A black plume of smoke appeared, and he eventually located the airplane in his cornfield. Due to ground impact marks, it is presumed that the aircraft struck the surrounding terrain in a nose low, left wing low attitude, and at a very high speed, all indicative of spatial disorientation, but not loss of control. There was nothing mechanically wrong with the aircraft at the time of impact, and it was still very much controllable if the correct control inputs had been made.

Probable Cause issued 9/18/2026 – 25 months after the accident: The non-instrument-rated pilot’s encounter with instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in spatial disorientation and a loss of control.

The DTSB recommends that all pilot of all aircraft use all available technology for both pre flight and enroute briefings in order to avoid flight into these type conditions, and that pilots be fully prepared to rely solely on flight instruments in order to gain altitude and fly towards better conditions, or to complete a one half standard rate turn back to the opposite heading and fly back towards better conditions.