Piper PA-28-140 N4218J

Summary

On 27 February 2010 at about 15:05 local time, a Piper PA-28-140 registered N4218J, operated by James Price, Jr., was involved in an accident near Gatesville, Texas, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 February 2010 at 15:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Gatesville, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

City-County (GOP)

Coordinates

31.2339, -94.7500

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-140

Registration

N4218J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

James Price, Jr.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Gatesville → San Angelo

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN10LA129

1 person died.

The pilot’s incapacitation as a result of one or more pre-existing medical conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

Witnesses saw the airplane make abrupt changes in directional flight, “first to the right at a bank angle of at least 60 degrees,” then it flew straight and level before entering a steep left climbing turn. The aircraft then started a descent with wings level at about a 45-60 degree nose-down angle. Other witnesses saw the airplane make several loops. The airport manager said this was “entirely out of the pilot’s character.” The pilot had a medical history that included a traumatic brain injury following an accident that put him in a coma in 1993. This was accompanied with persistent cognitive deficits and frequent intermittent episodes of amnesia, severe chronic lung disease that required him to use supplemental oxygen to avoid hypoxia during periods of activity, and depression for which he had been receiving therapy. He had specifically denied any history of unconsciousness, lung disease, neurological disorders, or depression on his most recent application for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airman Medical Certificate, and the FAA would have denied that application had they been aware of the full extent of the pilot’s medical conditions. The pilot also had a slowly expanding abdominal aortic aneurysm, and coronary artery disease with evidence of heart muscle abnormalities on echocardiogram performed two months prior to the accident. He was on a medication that would have reduced his tolerance to increased G-loading. Although an oxygen generator was found in the pilot’s parked automobile, no oxygen was found in the airplane wreckage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.