Cessna 402B accident near Watertown, SD
On December 31, 1997, a Cessna 402B (airplane) was involved in an accident near Watertown, SD. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- December 31, 1997
- Place
- Watertown, SD
- Aircraft
- Cessna 402B · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 44.910°N, 97.159°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001208X09286
Official records · CHI98LA073
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
Air traffic control records
- Weather Briefing Information and Transcript: Transcript (PDF), on ntsb.gov
NTSB summary
On December 30, 1997, at 1817 central standard time (cst), a Cessna 402B, N5087Q, piloted by a commercial pilot, was destroyed during a collision with the ground shortly after takeoff from runway 12 (6,895' x 150') at the Watertown Municipal Airport, Watertown, South Dakota. The 14 CFR Part 135 cargo flight was not operating on a flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot was fatally injured. The flight departed Watertown, South Dakota, at 1816 cst. At 1653, a person providing the call sign "dakota five twenty" contacted the Huron South Dakota Automated Flight Service Station requesting a "standard brief" for a flight from Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Watertown, South Dakota, to Marshall, Minnesota, to Anoka County, Minnesota. This person stated that the flight would be departing at 5:15 local time. The Air Traffic Control Specialist (briefer) informed the pilot of an advisory for light to occasional moderate rime mixed icing below eight thousand feet in the southern third of eastern Minnesota. The briefer continued to report there were "...some scattered areas of snow across South Dakota only the eastern half of South Dakota widely scattered isolated areas, but once again IFR conditions in those areas that's all drifting southeast out of North Dakota... ." The briefer continued to issue the Minneapolis weather and the "...state forecast now South Dakota two thousand five hundred broken tops of eight thousand... ." The briefer then issued the winds aloft and NOTAMS for the route of flight. The briefing ended at 1658. Two emp
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to perform an aircraft preflight and to remove the ice which had accumulated on the airframe. A factor involved in the accident was the icing weather conditions which existed and the ice which accumulated on the airplane.
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Browse: South Dakota · Cessna aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
