History of Flight
On April 27, 2010, at 1135 Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-30 (registration N847DE) collided with a highway embankment in Merced, California. The pilot, an 88-year-old private pilot, was operating under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The flight originated from Merced Regional Airport/Macready Field at 1127 for a local personal flight to perform an aerial property observation. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed; no flight plan was filed.
Before departure, an employee from a local Fixed Base Operator (FBO) assisted the pilot with moving the airplane from its hangar. The pilot struggled to start the tug and asked for help. Once outside, the pilot appeared pale, listless, and lost his footing while boarding. He called the FBO employee by the wrong name three times.
Airport security video showed the airplane entered runway 30 at the threshold, began an immediate takeoff roll, rotated about 2,200 feet down the runway, and climbed using the full runway length. It turned left onto the downwind leg.
A few minutes later, a weak and broken transmission was heard on the airport's common traffic advisory frequency: "...try...make right base...all kinds of trouble/problems in the cockpit...I will try to make it back to Merced Airport...I am following Childs Ave..."
A witness 3 miles east of the airport saw the airplane fly directly overhead westbound, straight and level just below an elevated restaurant sign. The engine sound was described as "full blown, similar to three Harley’s driving by." The airplane clipped the top of a tree and continued out of view. No smoke or vapor was seen, and the landing gear appeared retracted.
Another witness on Highway 99, 3 miles east of the airport, saw the airplane pass in front of his vehicle from left to right and collide with the highway embankment.
Recorded radar data from Merced Airport showed the target set to a 1200 beacon code beginning a ground roll at 1127 on runway 30. The target reached about 150 feet above ground level after traveling the full 5,914-foot runway, then climbed left to join the downwind leg at about 600 feet, leveling at 1,200 feet. It turned east, accelerated from 130 to 170 knots ground speed, then descended over 60 seconds to 800 feet. In the next 24 seconds, it began a descending 180-degree left turn to 600 feet, with a turn radius of about 1,250 feet and reaching 210 knots ground speed. It continued descending, then leveled at 50 feet about 1 mile east of the accident site. The last recorded target was at that altitude, traveling 100 knots ground speed.
Personnel Information
The pilot held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land, multiengine land, instrument airplane, and glider. He held a third-class medical certificate issued June 2009 with the limitation that he must have glasses available for near vision. His most recent medical application indicated 9,805 total flight hours, with 6 hours in the preceding 6 months. A flight logbook from 1992 to April 26, 2010, showed 12 entries and referenced total flight time in 1992 of 8,200 hours.
The pilot completed a flight review the day before the accident with a certified flight instructor (CFI) who stated the pilot appeared to have lost weight and showed a degradation in performance compared to the previous year. During the preflight, the pilot was confused during the magneto check and could not maintain brake pressure. The CFI noted that the pilot often resisted advice. The airplane performed flawlessly during the review.
Family members reported the pilot appeared in good spirits on the accident morning but had shown increasing fatigue and complaints of hand and arm pain over the previous year.
Aircraft Information
The Piper PA-30 (serial number 30-1634) was manufactured in 1967 and equipped with two Lycoming IO-320-B1A engines. The most recent annual inspection was completed 17 days prior to the accident, at which time the airframe had 2,543.99 total flight hours. The right engine had 473.5 hours since overhaul, the left engine 475.45 hours; both engines were overhauled in 1990.
Meteorological Information
The Merced Airport aviation routine weather report at 1153 PDT recorded wind from 240 degrees at 6 knots, visibility 10 miles, few clouds at 5,000 feet, overcast at 6,500 feet, temperature 19°C, dew point 7°C, altimeter 29.90 inches of mercury.
Wreckage and Impact Information
The first identified point of impact was a flat, horizontal swath cut through the top of a 60-foot-tall tree about 3 miles east of the airport. Next, a wood communications pole was severed at about 60 feet, 120 feet beyond the tree, with green paint fragments matching the airplane's wing structure. The main wreckage came to rest on a highway embankment 2.7 miles east-northeast of the arrival end of runway 30, at an elevation of about 170 feet msl, facing uphill on a heading of about 210 degrees magnetic. The main cabin remained intact with crush damage to the nose cone; the tail cone separated aft of the cabin with the empennage still attached. The right wing had two semi-circular indentations along its leading edge; the left wing sustained crush damage and its outboard section folded aft. All four wing fuel tanks contained fuel up to their filler necks and were not breached; no fire was present. The fuel selectors were set to main tanks, magneto switches on, auxiliary fuel pumps off, throttle/propeller/mixture controls full forward, landing gear and flaps retracted.
Medical and Pathological Information
An autopsy by the Merced County Sheriff's Office-Coroner Division determined the cause of death as blunt force trauma. The autopsy also found metastatic prostate carcinoma with enlarged multinodular prostate, periaortic lymphadenopathy, mediastinal adenopathy with compression of right subclavian vein and thrombus, and lung and bone metastases. Toxicological tests by the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute were negative for carbon monoxide, cyanide, and ingested alcohol; only quinine was detected in urine. The NTSB Chief Medical Officer reviewed FAA and personal medical records. The pilot's FAA records showed no significant medical issues reported except a 1999 fall from a horse. Personal physician records from 2004 revealed a diagnosis of advanced metastatic prostate cancer in 2005, non-insulin dependent diabetes in 2007, and cancer resurgence in the last months with pain and hand swelling due to cancerous lymph nodes obstructing venous flow.
Postaccident medical records from Mercy Medical Center of Merced indicated bystanders reported the pilot speaking or moaning after the crash. Emergency medical services found him in cardiac arrest upon arrival, initiated CPR, extricated him, and transported him to the hospital. Hospital staff attempted resuscitation with periods of pulse return, but he was declared dead about 1 hour 20 minutes after arrival. Laboratory values showed hyperglycemia (343 mg/dl) and an anion gap of 17 with bicarbonate of 19 mmol.
Tests and Research
Examination of the airframe and engines revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The airplane was equipped with two GPS receivers (Garmin GPSMap 296 and 496), but neither was turned on during the accident flight. Two exhaust and cylinder head temperature monitors were present; one was configured with data recording disabled, and the other contained no valid data from the accident flight.
Airplane performance calculations indicated that at a gross weight of 3,200 pounds and prevailing conditions, with a flap setting of 15 degrees and liftoff speed of 80 mph, the ground run distance should have been about 1,050 feet.