2013 LabCorp Pilatus PC-12 Crash in North Carolina (N68PK)

Accident Overview and Flight History On January 16, 2013, at approximately 0556 eastern standard time, a Pilatus PC-12/45, registration N68PK, operated by LabCorp, Inc. as flight SKQ53, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain shortly after takeoff from Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport (BUY) in Burlington, North Carolina. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. The flight was a corporate operation transporting medical specimens under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, with an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan filed for a destination of Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU) in Morristown, New Jersey. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot contacted Greensboro (GSO) clearance delivery at 0541 while on the ground at BUY and requested an IFR clearance to MMU. The pilot was advised that no flight plan was stored in the ATC system because the original flight plan, with a proposed departure time of 0315, had expired after a two-hour validity period. The pilot subsequently requested to file a new IFR flight plan and provided routing details. At 0550, GSO ATC provided an IFR clearance to SKQ53 from BUY to MMU, including an initial altitude of 3,000 feet. At 0551:30, ATC provided a transponder code of 2531, an altimeter setting of 30.01, an initial vector of a left turn to 360 degrees after takeoff, and a clearance void time of 0600. The pilot acknowledged the clearance but read back the transponder code as 2501 and stated he would be airborne in about 30 seconds. At 0554, the pilot advised GSO ATC that he was climbing through 3,000 feet. When asked to identify, the pilot responded that he was turning to a heading of 360 degrees at 3,000 feet. ATC then directed the pilot to reset his transponder to code 2531, which he acknowledged with “531.” At 0555, ATC advised the pilot that his transponder indicated a code of 2501 at an altitude of 2,000 feet. The pilot did not respond, and ATC made numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact SKQ53. The airplane was not radar identified by ATC. The wreckage was subsequently found fragmented in an athletic field located about 5 miles northeast of BUY.