Junior ACE N5545

Summary

On 13 April 2023 at about 18:30 local time, a Junior ACE registered N5545 was involved in an accident near Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, 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

13 April 2023 at 18:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, United States

Coordinates

36.3871, -91.4894

Aircraft

Junior ACE

Registration

N5545

Category

Airplane

Year built

2015

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ash Flat → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN23FA155

1 person died.

The pilot’s intentional flight into terrain as an act of suicide.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane, which was owned by the pilot, took off from a private airstrip and flew to a rock quarry. Witnesses saw the airplane circle around the quarry several times. One witness saw the airplane fly directly into the quarry and collide with a rock wall. The wreckage was located directly below and adjacent to a 75-ft rock wall. The damage to the wreckage was consistent with a high-energy impact. Examination of the airplane revealed no preimpact mechanical deficiencies that would have precluded normal operation. Postmortem toxicological testing detected ethanol at 0.048 g/dl, along with n-propanol, in the blood cavity. Neither ethanol nor n-propanol was detected in vitreous fluid. Detection of n-propanol in a postmortem specimen is potentially indicative of postmortem microbial activity in the specimen but does not necessarily mean that microbial activity produced ethanol. These findings suggest that the ethanol detected was likely from postmortem production, not alcohol consumption. Following a death investigation, local law enforcement and the local the coroner classified the manner of death as a suicide.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.