Quad City CHALLENGER UNREG

Summary

On 14 January 2010 at about 19:30 local time, a Quad City CHALLENGER registered UNREG was involved in an accident near Palmetto, Florida, 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

14 January 2010 at 19:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Palmetto, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Manatee (48X)

Coordinates

27.6397, -82.5083

Aircraft

Quad City CHALLENGER

Registration

UNREG

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Palmetto → Palmetto

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA10LA119

1 person died.

The non-certificated pilot's failure to maintain airspeed which resulted in an inadvertent stall and subsequent impact with the ground. Contributing to the accident was his impairment due to the prescription narcotic medication he was taking.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the owner of the experimental amateur-built light sport airplane, the non-certificated accident pilot was planning to only taxi the airplane and not get airborne due to the wind conditions. The owner and several witnesses observed the airplane depart the runway and fly the prescribed runway traffic pattern. While on the base leg, the airplane began a steep bank with the nose entering a dive. The airplane subsequently impacted the ground behind a row of trees, with the engine continuing to operate at high power until ground impact. Postmortem toxicology testing was consistent with recent use of an impairing prescription narcotic medication, although the source of blood tested made it impossible to accurately estimate the time of the most recent use or the likelihood of impairment. The autopsy revealed that the pilot had an active hepatitis C infection with early evidence of liver cirrhosis. It is possible that the pilot was impaired by his recent narcotic use, by symptoms of chronic active hepatitis C infection, or by some other condition for which he was taking the prescription narcotic medication.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.