What happened
On June 9, 2014, at approximately 21:58 EDT, a Cessna 172S, registration N5524L, crashed during a night proficiency flight near Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), Florida. The flight, operated by Phoenix East Aviation, was being conducted by a flight instructor and a private pilot receiving instruction for a commercial certificate.
After completing two touch-and-go landings on runway 7L, the aircraft began its initial climb. An airport employee witnessed the airplane experience several engine backfires followed by an audible drop in RPM. The aircraft struggled to maintain altitude and airspeed while heading east. The witness then observed the right wing dip, followed by a left turn, leading to an immediate aerodynamic stall. The airplane entered a nose-down descent and impacted the ground approximately 220 feet south of the runway 7R centerline. The impact and subsequent postcrash fire resulted in 2 fatal injuries.
The investigation
Engine examination was limited because the engine was heavily fire-damaged. While the oil sump was breached and rear accessories were destroyed, investigators found that the connecting rods rotated freely on the crankshaft, and no damage was noted on the camshaft, lifters, or cylinders. The fuel injector servo had been separated from the engine by the impact, and the rubber diaphragm had melted, allowing air to pass freely through the fuel injector lines. The spark plugs showed normal signatures.
Maintenance records indicated that a 100-hour inspection had been completed five days prior to the accident. A separate report noted that the same aircraft had experienced a rough-running engine and a 400 RPM loss during a climb-out on June 6, 2014, but was returned to service after an inspection found no defects in the spark plugs or magnetos.
Toxicology results for the flight instructor showed no evidence of impairment. For the pilot receiving instruction, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was detected in the blood and urine; however, because no THC was detected in the brain, investigators determined the findings likely resulted from postmortem redistribution and found no operational evidence of impairment.