Stephenson STOL CH 701 N34WS

Summary

On 24 October 2014 at about 23:00 local time, a Stephenson STOL CH 701 registered N34WS was involved in an accident near Mount Vernon, Indiana, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

24 October 2014 at 23:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Mount Vernon, Indiana, United States

Coordinates

37.9039, -87.7903

Aircraft

Stephenson STOL CH 701

Registration

N34WS

Category

Airplane

Year built

2004

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mount Vernon → Mount Vernon

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

CEN15LA026

1 person died.

The pilot’s impairment due to the ingestion of alcohol and sedating medications, which led to her improper decision to conduct low-level flight, affected her ability to safety operate the airplane, and resulted in her failure to maintain clearance from power lines.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was conducting a local personal flight. A witness who was working in a field reported observing the pilot flying the airplane about 30 ft above ground level and 50 ft to his right. The airplane banked right and then impacted power lines. The power lines arced when the airplane contacted them, and the airplane subsequently caught on fire and was fully engulfed in fire when the witness arrived at the accident site. An examination of the airplane did not reveal any preimpact anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Toxicological testing detected ethanol at 0.148 grams per deciliter (gm/dl) in the vitreous (Federal Aviation Administration regulations only allow 0.040 gm/dl of ethanol) and relatively similar levels of ethanol in the pilot's brain and blood specimens, which indicates that most of the ethanol was likely due to ingestion rather than postmortem production; therefore, she was likely intoxicated and impaired by ethanol at the time of the accident. In addition, the pilot had significant levels of diazepam and diphenhydramine in her heart blood. The detected levels for both drugs were likely therapeutic; however, in regular use, diazepam causes sedation and diphenhydramine causes marked sedation. Therefore, the pilot was likely impaired by both diazepam and diphenhydramine at the time of the accident. In summary, the pilot's judgment and psychomotor functions were likely significantly impaired by a combination of ethanol intoxication and the effects of both diazepam and diphenhydramine at the time of the accident. The combined effects of these impairing substances likely led to the pilot's improper decision to conduct low-level flight, affected her ability to safely operate the airplane, and resulted in her failure to maintain clearance from power lines.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.