Aeronca 7AC — Alexandria, MN

What happened

The private pilot was conducting a personal flight in the airplane. Multiple witnesses reported seeing the airplane flying at a low altitude and track data recovered from the pilot's mobile phone revealed that he had flown the airplane at an altitude that was less than 50 ft above the ground for most of the flight over and near a lake. One of the witnesses reported that the pilot would often overfly his house at a low altitude. The airplane subsequently collided with power lines over a road and impacted terrain.

Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The accident occurred during daylight hours and in visual meteorological conditions that included a clear sky and a 10-mile surface visibility. The position of the sun relative to the airplane's final flightpath would not have hindered the pilot's ability to see and avoid the power lines. Thus, the airplane struck the power lines because of the pilot's intentional low-altitude flight.

Postmortem toxicology testing identified 0.029 gm/dl and 0.053 gm/dl of ethanol in the pilot's blood and vitreous specimens, respectively. The reported levels were consistent with recent ingestion of alcohol by the pilot. Even at low levels, ethanol can affect judgment and decision-making as well as impair the psychomotor functioning necessary for safe flight. However, in this case, the pilot had a habit of flying in a reckless manner at low altitudes. As a result, the investigation was unable to determine if the effects of the likely ingested alcohol contributed to the accident.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.