Incident Overview
An aircraft departed from St. Clair Airport, establishing a normal climb en route to a destination airport 24 miles to the northeast. The aircraft was tracked by radar for a four-minute period, during which it showed a normal climb to level flight. The radar image was lost at a town approximately 8.5 miles northeast of the departure airport.
Crash Site
The aircraft was found impacted through a small, peninsula-shaped area of forestation. This area was bounded by a rather large area of open, slightly rolling but level terrain. The area bounding the crash site was of sufficient length and width to accommodate this aircraft for a landing.
Investigation Findings
No mechanical abnormality was discovered during the post-crash investigation. The pilot was medically documented as having Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome with documented arrhythmias. This condition can have periods of loss of consciousness. The pilot was taking no medication for this condition.