Piper PA46R-350T N40TS

Summary

On 14 February 2021 at about 00:27 local time, a Piper PA46R-350T registered N40TS, operated by IST Solutions Inc, was involved in an accident near Tehachapi, California, 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

14 February 2021 at 00:27

Classification

Accident

Location

Tehachapi, California, United States

Coordinates

35.0004, -118.3874

Aircraft

Piper PA46R-350T

Registration

N40TS

Category

Airplane

Year built

2010

Engines

1

Operator

IST Solutions Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Camarillo → Mammoth Lakes

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR21LA111

1 person died.

The pilot’s encounter with mountain wave activity with severe turbulence, which resulted in a loss of airplane control. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to obtain a preflight weather briefing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument-rated pilot departed on a cross-country flight. Radar track data revealed the airplane traveled on a relatively straight course to the northeast for about 32 minutes. Near the end of the flight track data, the track showed an increasingly tight left spiraling turn near the accident site. The airplane impacted steep sloping terrain, and a postimpact fire ensued. As a result of the impact, the airplane was segmented into several sections. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunction or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The attitude indicator instrument was disassembled, and the vacuum-powered rotor and housing revealed rotational scoring damage, indicating the instrument vacuum system was operational at the time of the accident. The investigation found no evidence indicating the pilot checked the weather or received weather information before departure. The surrounding weather reporting stations near the accident site reported wind conditions with peak gusts up to 47 knots around the time of the accident. The pilot likely encountered mountain wave activity with severe turbulence, which resulted in loss of control of the airplane and impact with terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to obtain a preflight weather briefing, which would have alerted him to the presence of hazardous strong winds and turbulent conditions. Postmortem toxicology testing of the pilot’s lung and muscle tissue samples detected several substances that are mentally and physically impairing individually and even more so in combination for performing hazardous and complex tasks. However, blood concentrations are needed to determine the level of impairment, and no blood samples for the pilot were available. While the pilot was taking potentially impairing medications and likely had conditions that would influence decision making and reduce performance, without blood concentrations, it was not possible to determine whether the potentially impairing combination of medications degraded his ability to safely operate the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.