THE DTSB
The DTSB determines the Probable Cause of this accident to be Pilot Error, in that the highly experienced accident pilot did elect to continue flight towards known significant convective activity, and discontinued his IFR approach to KCRE due to extreme turbulence and heavy rain, whereupon he subsequently entered a column of microburst activity and was unable to maintain level flight in a decreasing performance (tailwind) microburst. The accident aircraft was found to have impacted with all components present at the crash site, and evidence of a very high forward speed and a wings level very high rate of descent type impact. The NTSB IIC on site offered this quote: “It was a high energy impact, indicating a high rate of speed as it passed through the trees, and the wreckage path is about 300 feet long from beginning to end.”