Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT): Cessna 150F, N8110S, fatal accident occurred on October 31, 2024, near Wilder, Tennessee

• Location: Wilder, Tennessee 
• Accident Number: ERA25FA037 
• Date & Time: October 31, 2024, 18:37 Local 
• Registration: N8110S 
• Aircraft: Cessna 150F 
• Aircraft Damage: Destroyed 
• Defining Event: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT) 
• Injuries: 1 Fatal 
• Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal 

https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/195426/pdf

https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=195426

On October 31, 2024, at about 1837 central daylight time, a Cessna 150F airplane, N8110S, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Wilder, Tennessee. The student pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

 The student pilot was on the second leg of a long visual flight rules cross-country flight. The pilot departed shortly after the end of civil twilight and on a night where no lunar illumination was present. The pilot had not filed a flight plan and there was no evidence that he had obtained an official weather briefing from a source that would have logged that contact. After departure, the pilot flew over a town that contained significant cultural lighting and highway, flying parallel to a road for about 1 mile. He then turned away from the town and roughly toward the destination airport, over a sparsely populated area covered with dense forest and rising terrain.

The dark night, in addition to the generally cloudy conditions and limited ground lighting along the flight path, would have made it difficult for the pilot to visually recognize the rising terrain. As the pilot continued toward this area of diminished visual reference, he encountered a band of light rain showers, which in addition to further restricting visibility, had the potential for updrafts and associated turbulence. Given these conditions, it is likely that the pilot was flying in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) for the last 4 minutes of the flight. Postaccident examination of the wreckage at the accident site revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airframe or engine. The relatively straight flight path for the final portion of the flight that was observed via ADS-B, the length of the wreckage path at the accident site, and the damage observed to trees along that wreckage path, were all consistent with controlled flight into terrain.

The results of postaccident toxicological testing indicated that the pilot had used the prescription medication lamotrigine. While it is possible that his cognitive and psychomotor performance might have been impaired by the effects of the medication, no more-specific conclusion about pilot impairment can be drawn from the reviewed medical evidence alone. Based on the available information, the student pilot’s decision to continue the long crosscountry flight at night, without obtaining a preflight weather briefing or having an apparent awareness of approaching precipitation, and without filing a flight plan, was indicative of poor judgement. 

- Probable Cause: The student pilot’s decision to continue the visual flight rules flight into instrument meteorological conditions at night, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.

The pilot had purchased the airplane about one month prior to the accident. He held a student pilot certificate and reported on an insurance application, submitted on the day of the accident, that he had accumulated 65 total hours of flight experience, including 30 hours in the accident airplane make and model.