Piper PA-28-140 N6575W

Summary

On 24 November 2024 at about 11:33 local time, a Piper PA-28-140 registered N6575W was involved in an accident near Camdenton, Missouri, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

24 November 2024 at 11:33

Classification

Accident

Location

Camdenton, Missouri, United States

Nearest airport

Camdenton Memorial-Lake Region (OZS)

Coordinates

37.9836, -92.6968

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-140

Registration

N6575W

Category

Airplane

Year built

1965

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bolivar → Camdenton

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN25LA049

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot’s poor flight planning which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Law enforcement officers reported, that the pilot of the accident airplane stated that he intended to intentionally crash his airplane after dropping a pillow onto his wife’s house. The pilot demanded that his wife speak to him before he initiated his takeoff. Law enforcement officers reported that they were in intermittent contact through phone calls and text messaging throughout the 4-hour flight. The pilot stated to law enforcement officials that he was flying while intoxicated and that he was not confident in his ability to land due to his level of intoxication. At one point, the pilot agreed to land at a local airport. During the descent he aimed the airplane towards law enforcement officers and flew over them at a low altitude while yelling, “wee woo, wee woo” out of the side vent window before initiating a climb. The pilot continued to refuse to land until he was able to speak with his wife and later crashed northwest of the local airport. The airplane impacted trees and came to rest on its nose which resulted in substantial damage to both wings, fuselage, horizontal stabilator, and the lower engine compartment. The pilot, who was seriously injured, fled the accident site before surrendering himself to local law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers observed an empty six pack container of alcohol and one unopened bottle of alcohol on the ground under the airplane. Inside the airplane, on the floor near the rudder pedals, there were two empty bottles of alcohol. Upon inspection of the wing fuel tanks, the left wing tank was empty and had no observable fuel in it. The right wing tank had an occasional drip from where it was ruptured. There was no observable fuel blight on nearby vegetation and no fuel dye stains present on any of the aircraft surfaces. The pilot reported that he was attempting to land when he lost complete engine power due to carburetor icing and impacted trees short of the runway. He stated that he departed with full fuel, and that it would have given him 7 or 8 hours of flight time. He did not provide an NTSB Form 6120.1 Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report. When comparing the reported weather around the time of the accident to FAA special Airworthiness Information Bulletin, CE-09-35 Carburetor Icing Prevention, the flight environment was within the range for icing conditions for pressure-type carburetors.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.