Takeoff & Initial Climb · NTSB WPR20FAMS1
Piper PA28R — Shelter Cove, CA
| Date | October 25, 2019 |
| Location | Shelter Cove, CA |
| Aircraft | Piper PA28R |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Night/Dark · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Takeoff Miscellaneous/other |
| Pilot age | 44 |
| Pilot total time | Unknown |
| Time in type | Unknown |
| Fatalities | 2 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Not determined-Not determined-(general)-(general)-Unknown/Not determined
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
- Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Light condition-Dark-Contributed to outcome
What happened
A witness reported that the pilot and passenger departed in dark night conditions with no visible horizon. After takeoff, the airplane made a left turn. Flight track data first identified the airplane about 2.8 nautical miles southeast of the departure airport and over the ocean. The airplane was at an indicated altitude of about 3,325 ft mean sea level (msl) and was transmitting a beacon code of 1200. The airplane maneuvered and made a right 360o turn followed by a left 360o turn, then reversed course, conducted a figure-eight turn, and headed south-southeast bound. It gradually climbed to about 6,000 ft msl before entering a left descending turn and rapidly losing altitude. The track data indicated that the airplane descended from about 5,800 ft to 2,850 ft msl in the last 24 seconds of recorded track data.
A search for the airplane found no debris, and the airplane remains missing. The flight track data are consistent with a loss of airplane control.