On October 16, 2000, about 1933 central daylight time (CDT), a Cessna 335, N8354N, crashed near Hillsboro, Missouri. The pilot and two passengers were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. The airplane was being operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 from the St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS), Cahokia, Illinois, to County Memorial Airport (EIW), New Madrid, Missouri. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed for the flight, which departed CPS about 1915 on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan.
We determined that the probable cause of this accident was the pilotís failure to control the airplane while maneuvering because of spatial disorientation.
Contributing to the accident were the failure of the airplane's primary attitude indicator and the adverse weather conditions, including turbulence.
