Accident Overview
On July 22, 2012, at 0951 central daylight time, an experimental-amateur built Sky Star Kitfox 4 sustained substantial damage after it lost control and impacted Upper Whitefish Lake near Cross Lake, Minnesota. The private pilot was fatally injured and the passenger was seriously injured. No flight plan was filed for the local flight that departed from Pine River Regional Airport (PWC), Pine River, Minnesota, at 0938. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
Witness Accounts
The passenger stated the purpose of the flight was to look for fishing spots in the lake and check out some property on the shoreline. The passenger said that as they headed toward the shoreline, the airplane was in a slight nose up attitude and climbing, but he did not recall how fast they were going. The doors of the airplane were open, and the passenger was looking outside. He said the flight was normal until the airplane suddenly jerked violently to the left, rolled, and spun down toward the lake. After impact, the passenger unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the airplane. A boat arrived shortly and he was lifted aboard.
Several eyewitnesses observed the airplane spin toward the water. One witness, who had taken flight lessons, was in his boat when he first saw the airplane flying about twice the height of the tree tops, heading east. He described the airplane's attitude as tail down and nose high, and it appeared to be "wallowing" and about to stall. The witness momentarily looked away, and when he looked back, the airplane was spinning nose down toward the water. He drove his boat to the accident site and assisted the passenger and pilot.
GPS Data
A handheld Garmin global positioning system (GPS) found in the airplane was sent to the Safety Board's laboratory for data download. The accident flight was recorded from departure at 0938:28 until 0951:13 when the unit stopped. A review of the last minute revealed that at 0950:20, the airplane was at an altitude of 1,624 feet mean sea level (msl), approximately 328 feet above the water, heading southeast at a ground speed of 39 knots. Over the next 53 seconds, the airplane made a shallow descent to 1,496 feet msl (approximately 200 feet above water) and slowed to 34 knots ground speed before the data ended just northwest of the shoreline.
Examination and Toxicology
Examination of the airplane by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors revealed substantial damage from impact with water. No pre-impact mechanical anomalies were noted.
According to the pilot's autopsy report, the cause of death was multiple traumatic injuries resulting from an airplane crash. No significant natural disease was identified, but the medical examiner found an object in the pilot's left shirt pocket described as a "one hit" pipe.
Toxicology results from an independent lab used by the medical examiner found tetrahydrocannabinol (marijuana) in the urine and quantified the amount in the pilot’s peripheral blood at 0.0056 ug/ml, along with 0.0059 ug/ml of its primary metabolite, tetrahydrocannabinol carboxylic acid.
Femoral and heart blood and tissue specimens were sent to the FAA's Civil AeroMedical Institute (CAMI) toxicology lab. CAMI found the blood unsuitable for quantification of tetrahydrocannabinol but detected 0.046 ug/ml of tetrahydrocannabinol in lung tissue and tetrahydrocannabinol carboxylic acid in urine (0.0952 ug/ml), liver (0.0873 ug/ml), lung (0.0094 ug/ml), and blood (0.0111 ug/ml).