BELLANCA 7GCAA — Glamis, CA

What happened

The private pilot was giving a ride to the passenger and was relocating the airplane to a nearby private airstrip for overnight parking. Witnesses located near the airstrip observed the airplane touch down about midfield on the southwest runway while traveling at a high rate of speed. According to the witnesses, the wind was from the east-northeast at 15 to 20 miles per hour, which was a downwind condition for the landing. The pilot performed a go-around, and the airplane pitched upward and banked steeply to the right. The pilot executed a 180° turn to parallel the runway and leveled off at an altitude of about 100 to 150 ft above ground level. Shortly thereafter, the airplane entered a steep right turn toward the runway, and the witnesses lost sight of it.

Examination of the accident site indicated that the airplane impacted terrain in a near vertical attitude about 600 ft short of the approach end of the dirt runway. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no evidence of any preexisting mechanical malfunction that would have precluded normal operation. The witness observations of the pilot's steep turns and the airplane's near-vertical impact with terrain are consistent with the pilot failing to maintain adequate airspeed while maneuvering aggressively in the traffic pattern, resulting in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall.

The pilot's autopsy results revealed that he had coronary artery disease without evidence of an old or new heart attack. Although this condition placed the pilot at increased risk for a cardiovascular event, there was no evidence that the pilot's coronary artery disease impaired the pilot or contributed to the accident as he was actively maneuvering the airplane up until the stall. Toxicology tests revealed that the pilot had therapeutic levels of the antidepressant sertraline in has blood at the time of the accident. However, sertraline is not known to cause impairment, and it is unlikely that the effects of sertraline impaired the pilot. In addition, the tests revealed that the pilot had a blood level of the antidepressant trazodone well below therapeutic levels, making it unlikely that the effects of trazadone impaired the pilot.

Review of the pilot's personal medical records revealed that he had major depression that was not adequately controlled. This condition is associated with significant cognitive degradation, particularly in executive functioning. Cognitive degradation may not improve even with treatment and remission of the depressed episode, and patients with severe disease are more significantly affected than those with fewer symptoms or episodes.

Although the pilot likely had the skill and experience necessary to safely conduct the flight, he demonstrated poor decision-making and executive function when he decided to attempt a landing with a significant tailwind and elected to maneuver aggressively in the traffic pattern while attempting to perform a go-around and a subsequent landing attempt. It is likely that the pilot's inadequately controlled depression impaired his decision-making and 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.