Cessna 414A accident near Bloomington, IL

On April 7, 2015, a Cessna 414A (airplane) was involved in an accident near Bloomington, IL. 7 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.

Date

April 7, 2015

Place

Bloomington, IL

Aircraft

Cessna 414A · Airplane

Injuries

7 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor

Damage

Substantial

Position

40.496°N, 88.868°W

NTSB ID

20150407X70528

Official records · CEN15FA190

• Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation

Air traffic control records

• ATC Specialist's Report: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
• ATC Specialist's Report - Attachment 1: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
• ATC Specialist's Report - Attachment 2: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
• ATC Specialist's Report - Attachment 3: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
• ATC Specialist's Report - Attachment 4: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov

NTSB summary

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn April 7, 2015, about 0006 central daylight time, a Cessna 414A twin-engine airplane, N789UP, collided with terrain following a loss of control during an instrument approach to Central Illinois Regional Airport (BMI), Bloomington, Illinois. The airline transport pilot and six passengers were fatally injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to Make It Happen Aviation, LLC, and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. Night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed for the cross-country flight that departed Indianapolis International Airport (IND), Indianapolis, Indiana, at 2307. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control (ATC) data, after departure, the flight climbed to a cruise altitude of 8,000 ft mean sea level (msl) and proceeded direct to BMI. At 2344:38, the flight was about 42 nautical miles (nm) south-southeast of BMI and entered a cruise descent to 4,000 ft msl. At 2352:06, the pilot established contact with a controller at the Peoria Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, reported being level at 4,000 ft msl, and requested the instrument landing system (ILS) runway 20 instrument approach to BMI. According to radar data, at the time of the request, the flight was located about 21 nm south-southeast of BMI and was established on a direct course to BMI at 4,000 ft msl. The controller told the pilot to expect radar vectors for the ILS runway 20 approach. At 2354:18, the control

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during the instrument approach in night instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall/spin. Contributing to the accident were pilot fatigue, the pilot's increased workload during the instrument approach resulting from the lack of glideslope guidance due to

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Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.