2010 Vans RV-7A Collision with Terrain in El Dorado, Arkansas (N474JM)

Accident Overview and Flight History On August 19, 2010, at approximately 2045 central daylight time, N474JM, a Charles W. Miller Vans RV-7A, collided with heavily wooded terrain shortly after takeoff from South Arkansas Regional Airport (ELD), El Dorado, Arkansas. The private pilot was fatally injured. The aircraft was registered to and operated by the pilot. A visual flight rules flight plan was filed with a destination of Georgetown Municipal Airport (GTU), Georgetown, Texas. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The pilot was returning from a reunion in Ohio and was on his way back to his home airport in Texas, a 968-mile long flight. According to flight plans and fuel receipts, the pilot departed Norwalk-Huron Airport (5A1), Norwalk, Ohio, around 0930 eastern daylight time and stopped at Kennett Memorial Airport, (TKX), Kennett, Missouri, and purchased fuel at 1248. The pilot then flew to El Dorado, Arkansas, and landed around 1700. He purchased fuel and then waited 3 hours and 45 minutes for thunderstorms to pass through the area before he departed for Texas. According to an airport employee in El Dorado, the pilot contacted the airport just prior to 1700. She talked to him via radio as he approached the airport. The pilot was confused and thought he was landing at a tower-controlled airport. Additionally, he stated his airplane's registration number incorrectly as N747JM. After he landed, the employee had another conversation with the pilot while she refueled his airplane. She said the pilot appeared tired and he had mentioned to her that he was “...tired from flying all day.” At 2045, another airport employee observed the airplane taxi out to the runway, perform a 5-minute engine run-up and then depart runway 31. He said the pilot used “very little” runway before initiating a climb to an approximate altitude of 300 to 400 feet before it made a left turn to the west. He said the engine was making power and everything sounded normal. There were no transmissions or communications from the pilot after he departed. The airplane was later reported overdue and an alert notification (ALNOT) was issued. Search and rescue crews found the airplane four days later on August 23, 2010, approximately 500 feet west of the end of runway 31 in heavily wooded terrain.