SCHUMACHER Lancair Super ES — Pascagoula, MS

What happened

The pilot of the experimental, amateur-built airplane departed on a visual flight rules cross-county flight toward an area of convective activity and instrument meteorological conditions. There was no record that the pilot obtained an official weather briefing for the flight. However, the wife of one of the passengers reported that, before takeoff, the pilot told her husband that he intended to fly along the coast to avoid "the worst of the weather," indicating that the pilot had at least some knowledge of the en route weather conditions. Overlaying the airplane's radar flight path on a weather surveillance radar image showed that the airplane flew along the leading edge of light intensity echoes and was approaching an area of heavy intensity echoes when radar contact was lost. The airplane's radar targets ended over the ocean.

Fragmented debris from the airplane was subsequently recovered from the water and surrounding beaches. Given the limited amount of wreckage and its severely fragmented condition, no useful information pertaining to the preimpact mechanical condition of the airplane could be obtained from the recovered wreckage. However, the fragmentation of the wreckage is consistent with the airplane impacting the water in an uncontrolled descent, and, based on the flight track and weather data, it is likely that the pilot lost control of the airplane after encountering convective shower activity.

Review of the pilot's personal medical records revealed a history of medical conditions and prescribed medications, some of which were potentially impairing, that were not reported to the Federal Aviation Administration during his most recent third-class medical certificate examination. However, because the pilot's body was not recovered, no autopsy or toxicology testing were performed, and it could not be determined whether the pilot's medical conditions or his use of impairing medications 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.