NORTH AMERICAN SNJ 2 — Melville, NY

What happened

The pilot departed the airport with the intention of joining five other airplanes to proceed on a cross-country formation flight. The rear seat passenger onboard one of the other airplanes and a witness on the ground watched as the accident airplane entered a steep, climbing right 180° turn to about 1,300 ft above ground level, then subsequently entered a spin that continued to ground contact. A video captured the airplane in a steep, nose-down angle rotating around its vertical axis before impacting the ground.

Postaccident examination revealed no anomalies with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation, with the exception of some preexisting cracks in the cockpit heater assembly. However, these cracks would not have negatively impacted the pilot's ability to control the airplane. Toxicology of the pilot revealed the presence of carbon monoxide in his blood that was not the result of the postcrash fire, and further examination of the heater assembly revealed no cracks or holes in the exhaust pipe that would have allowed gases to mix with the cockpit air supply. Given the level of carbon monoxide detected, it is unlikely that the pilot experienced any symptoms, regardless of the source, and there was no evidence to suggest that any carbon monoxide in the pilot's system contributed to the circumstances of the accident. Therefore, it is likely that, during the climbing turn, the pilot exceeded the airplane's critical angle of attack and the airplane experienced an aerodynamic stall and inadvertent spin.

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