PIPER PA 28-180 — Lake Worth, FL

What happened

The private pilot was conducting a personal cross-country flight. The pilot utilized the destination airport's common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) to report that he was 3 miles east of the airport and that he planned to enter a midfield left downwind leg for the runway. He then reported on that he was turning a left base leg for the runway. No further communications were received from the pilot. A radar plot showed the airplane flying past the runway centerline and then making an S-turn before radar contact was lost. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of any mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation.

The pilot's autopsy revealed that he had significant heart disease with enlargement and wall thickening. He also had diffuse coronary artery disease with 75 percent stenosis of the left anterior descending and right coronary arteries and 25 percent stenosis of the left main and left circumflex coronary arteries. There was also mild calcification of the mitral valve leaflets. The pilot's coronary artery disease put him at a high risk for acute ischemia, which can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, or decreased blood pressure. He was also at increased risk for an arrhythmia, which can result in loss of consciousness. None of these events would leave visible evidence at autopsy. Given the circumstances of the accident and the pilot's cardiac conditions, it is possible that he became acutely impaired or incapacitated by symptoms from his cardiac disease and that this could have resulted in the loss of aircraft control. However, given the limited available information, it could not be determined whether the loss of control was the result of incapacitation or if there was another reason that the aircraft departed controlled flight and the pilot was unable to regain control.

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