Piper PA28 N601FL

Summary

On 21 December 2019 at about 21:14 local time, a Piper PA28 registered N601FL, operated by X-Cell Aviation Flight Training Center LLC, was involved in an accident near Evansville, Indiana, 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

21 December 2019 at 21:14

Classification

Accident

Location

Evansville, Indiana, United States

Nearest airport

Evansville Rgnl (EVV)

Coordinates

38.0958, -87.5406

Aircraft

Piper PA28

Registration

N601FL

Category

Airplane

Year built

1971

Engines

1

Operator

X-Cell Aviation Flight Training Center LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Evansville → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN20FA038

1 person died.

The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was flying to an airport about 60 miles north of the departure airport. About 18 miles short of the destination airport, the pilot informed air traffic control (ATC) that he was returning to his departure airport and performed a 180° turn to the south. The pilot did not report any problems or concerns to ATC during the flight and he was cleared to land on runway 18 at the departure airport. Witnesses observed the airplane enter a right descending turn and impact a field about 2 miles north of the airport. No anomalies were noted with the airframe or engine during postaccident examination that would have resulted in a loss of aircraft control. According to the autopsy of the pilot, the cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries; however, the autopsy was limited due to the injuries the pilot received. The pilot’s medical records demonstrated the pilot had severe coronary disease than was not fully identified by the limited autopsy. The disease had progressed over the previous 20 years and placed the pilot at risk of sudden symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain, disturbances in heart rhythm causing palpitations and fainting. Heart rhythm problems leave no evidence at autopsy and even large heart attacks do not leave autopsy evidence if death occurs within about 3 hours. The absence of findings during the autopsy were not indicative that an acute cardiac event did not occur. Based on available evidence from the pilot’s medical records, it was possible that the pilot had experienced a sudden incapacitation due to an acute cardiac event, which led to a loss of control of the airplane. However, this could not be definitively determined based on a lack of additional corroborating operational evidence. Based on available evidence from the pilot’s medical records, the most likely explanation for the accident is sudden incapacitation of the pilot due to an acute cardiac event, which led to a loss of control of the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.