The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that pilot error in foggy conditions was the probable cause of a 2019 single-engine airplane crash in Centre County that killed a State College couple, according to a final report published on Thursday.
Pilot Joseph T. Bernardo, 55, and his wife, 54-year-old Valerie D. Bernardo, died after the Cessna 172N crashed into the Sandy Ridge mountain summit at 12:51 p.m., on May 1, 2019, 11 minutes after they departed University Park Airport bound for Pittsburgh/Butler Regional Airport.
The Bernardos were the only people on board the plane, which was operated by State College-based PsyFliers Club, Inc., of which Joseph Bernardo was a member.
According to the report, Bernardo received a preflight weather briefing that “warned of instrument and marginal visual meteorological conditions as well as mountain obscuration conditions” due to clouds. Under instrument meteorological conditions, a pilot flies by reference to the aircraft’s instruments rather than by outside visual references.
Bernardo filed instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan but informed air traffic control he was departing with visual flight rules. Flight track and weather data showed the plane headed toward mountainous terrain that was likely obscured by clouds.
A witness reported seeing the plane flying west below the fog before losing sight of it then hearing an explosion. The plane crashed in heavily wooded terrain on the ridgeline at an elevation of about 2,275 feet.
The investigation found no evidence of preaccident mechanical failures that would have precluded normal operation and the plane had recently passed inspection. The flying club president reported that a day earlier, on the last flight of the aircraft before the crash, there were no issues.
Bernardo had 563 hours of flight experience, including 523 in the same make and model as the plane that crashed, and had an instrument rating. But the investigation could not determine if he had the necessary experience requirements to undertake an IFR flight because of a lack of available records.
The investigation also could not determine why he departed under visual flight rules after filing an IFR plan.
“It is likely that, after departing, the pilot encountered deteriorating weather conditions that obscured the mountainous terrain, and resulted in the pilot’s controlled flight into terrain,” the report stated.
Joseph Bernardo was a senior research engineer in Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory. Valerie Bernardo was a registered dietitian for 28 years. Both were Penn State graduates and were married for nearly 33 years.
