When we depart on an instrument flight we expect that the journey will progress normally to our intended destination. That, of course, is not a realistic expectation, as anybody at the NTSB can tell you. Because the chance of something going wrong is always there, we must constantly be aware of how our instruments and operating systems are working.In this particular accident, the 62-year-old pilot-in-command had been flying for many years and had nearly 5,000 hours total time. According to the NTSB report, he had flown 86 hours in the 90 days preceding the accident and had 774 hours of total instrument time. He had also received a biennial flight review and an instrument proficiency check two months prior to the accident. He held a private pilot certificate with multiengine, single-engine and instrument ratings. He had approximately 400 hours in the accident airplane and nearly 2,500 hours of multiengine time, much of it in turbine aircraft.It appears that this pilot was well-qualified to be flying the Cessna 425 Conquest turboprop that he had owned for about a year and a half. Yet, on an early March day in 2002, the pilot lost control of his airplane, causing it to break up in flight, killing him and his two passengers. After a thorough investigation, the NTSB determined that the accident was precipitated by the failure of a small but critical system. Had the pilot recognized the failure immediately for what it was, the odds are that you would be reading about a different accident right now.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/flight-safety/probable-cause-1-breakup-in-flight