OCEAN CITY — A little over two years after a fatal plane crash in the water just off the coast of the Ocean City Airport claimed the life of the pilot and presumably the female passenger, a report released this week suggests spatial disorientation, a phenomenon associated with night flying, was likely the cause.
On Feb. 28, 2018, a Cessna 172S airplane piloted by Marcson Ngwa, 28, of Windsor Mill, Md. accompanied by Benica Richards-Robinson, 28, of Gwynn Oak, Md., went down in the Atlantic Ocean about a mile from the Ocean City Municipal Airport. The following morning, when the rented airplane had not returned to Martin State Airport in Baltimore County where the ill-fated flight originated, a massive search effort was initiated.
On March 1, an oil slick was located about two miles off the coast of the Ocean City Municipal Airport and search efforts were focused there. Late that same day, the plane’s fuselage and a wing were located on the ocean floor below the oil slick and Ngwa’s deceased body was recovered. The search continued off and on over the next two weeks, hampered by back-to-back coastal storms at times. About two weeks later, Maryland State Police investigators announced search and recovery efforts had ended. Richards-Robinson was never recovered and is presumed deceased.
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5 comments:
i call bs. either he was instrument rated or not! if he was then he wasn't very good at it!
Put yourself on a revolving stool in a totally blacked out room with zero visual references except a pinpoint light on a wall. Then turn out the light, give the stool a spin and try to turn to face where you saw the light. You'll get the idea.
Northwest Woodsman: Years ago, I was flying an OV-1 Grumman Mohawk from Salisbury to Andrews Air Force Base. It was in December, at night, totally dark, with broken clouds and rain and suddenly, I lost all of my instrument and interior lighting. I had to scan my instruments with a flashlight in my mouth while everything outside the cockpit was totally black. Over the bay, Air Traffic Control was assigning frequency and transponder changes as they handed me off to Andrews Approach Control. This activity required considerable movement reaching for several different radios, transponder, and navigational instruments. Even with hundreds of hours of instrument flight in adverse weather, I began to feel the effects of vertigo. I reached a point where I was arguing with myself as to whether to die crashing into the bay or to eject and die of exposure in the Chesapeake Bay. I decided to eject and just as I reached for the black and yellow handles, I spotted, off in the distance, the runway strobe lights at Andrews. Those lights gave me the visual reference I needed to stay on course and land safely. One of many close calls over my career as a military aviator. I know the terror that this low time pilot must have experienced as he lost control of his aircraft.
"...either he was instrument rated or not..."
No way he had instrument rating with only 81 total hours.
That is when you don't know which way is up. Deadly when flying an aircraft. If you are flying at a low altitude, there is no chance to recover.
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