Pilot Held Only A Student Certificate And Was Not Authorize To Carry Passengers

The NTSB has released a preliminary report from an accident involving a conventional-gear C-140 airplane which resulted in the fatal injury of the two people on board. The aircraft impacted terrain in a remote rolling prairie on the Rosebud Indian Reservation (RIR) near Lakeview, South Dakota. The student pilot and the passenger both sustained fatal injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane was registered to and operated by the student pilot as a visual flight rules personal flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from the student pilot's private airstrip near Lakeview.

According to first responders who spoke with family members, the purpose of the flight was for the student pilot and his son to fly around the local area for aerial observation of various large water towers stationed on farms on the RIR. The student pilot would fly the airplane low, over the water towers, and look down into the water towers to determine the water level. He would then report the water level back to the farmers.

The student pilot's airstrip, which was about 65 ft wide and 1,850 long, consisted of grass and dirt. The airstrip was about 5.5 miles southwest of Lakeview on private property. The airstrip was oriented about 350° and about 170°, runway 35-17 respectively.

After not hearing from the student pilot and his son for several hours, concerned family members contacted first responders. The wreckage was discovered about 0800 by first responders on September 9, 2019. The accident site, located on private property, was about 825 ft to the northwest of the airstrip threshold for landing on runway 17.

The NTSB investigator-in-charge and an air safety investigator from Textron Aviation (the type certificate holder for the Cessna 140) responded to the accident site on September 10, 2019. The investigative team members documented the accident site and the wreckage. The airplane came to rest on a heading of 24° and at an elevation of 2,910 ft above mean sea level. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wing structures, the fuselage, and the empennage as shown below in figure 1 and figure 2. All components of the airframe and the engine were located at the accident site. The two wing fuel tanks were breached from the accident sequence and the onboard fuel level at the time of the impact was undetermined.

(Image provided with NTSB Preliminary report)

FMI: Report