Flight History
On December 24, 2015, about 0840 central standard time, a Piper PA-46-500TP, N891CR, impacted a tree and terrain during a return to the airport after takeoff from Roscoe Turner Airport (CRX), Corinth, Mississippi. The private pilot and one passenger received minor injuries. Two passengers received serious injuries, one of whom died 227 days after the accident due to her injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane was registered to North Mississippi Pulmonology Clinic, Inc., and was operated by the pilot under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the cross-country personal flight that was destined for Ocean Reef Club Airport (07FA), Key Largo, Florida.
According to a line service technician at the airport, when he arrived at work on the day of the accident, he received a note stating that the airplane had been previously fueled. He then went to the hangar where the airplane was kept, unplugged the airplane from the battery charger, towed the airplane to the terminal, and parked the airplane so it was parallel to the front of the terminal. The technician reported that, when he unplugged the airplane from the battery charger, he did not close the right access door (located behind the engine and forward of the right-wing root), which provided access to the battery charging port. He stated that he left the door in the open position, that they would not open or close doors on an aircraft unless requested to, and that he had advised the pilot of this in the past.
The pilot's wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law arrived at the airport about 30 minutes before the pilot, as the pilot had to go to his office first. When the pilot arrived, he told the line service technician, "I'll see you." About 20 minutes later, the line service technician heard the engine start, and then he heard the airplane taxi to runway 18 and takeoff. The technician stated that it sounded to him like the airplane's engine was producing full power when the airplane took off. A little while later, the telephone rang, and he was advised that the airplane had crashed.
According to the pilot, he arrived at the airport about 0800, uploaded his navigational charts, and did a preflight check, which was normal. The pilot stated that the airplane's battery was on a trickle charger the night before the flight, which required that the right access door be open, but that he checked the door during his preflight check and secured it. The engine start, taxi, and engine run up were normal. They departed from runway 18 with the wing flaps set to 10°. Rotation for takeoff was at 85 knots indicated airspeed with power set to 1,240 ft-pounds of torque. After liftoff, he retracted the landing gear and continued to climb. Shortly thereafter, the right access door opened partially and started "flopping" up and down 3 to 4 inches in each direction. He reduced the torque to 900 ft-pounds to try to prevent the right access door from coming completely open and attempted to return to the airport. However, when he turned on the left crosswind leg for runway 18, the right access door opened completely, and the airplane would not maintain altitude even with full power, so he "put the nose back down." The airplane then hit a treetop and came to rest in the front yard of an abandoned house.
According to a witness, who was an airplane mechanic employed at the airport, he was driving past the south end of the runway, when he saw the airplane about 150 ft above ground level flying "real slow." It flew over Highway 2, and its wings were "wagging" like it was going to stall. The left wing "dropped," and the airplane "fell" through some trees, "pancaked," and then slid sideways.
Review of data recovered from the airplane's Avidyne Entegra avionics system indicated that, after becoming airborne, the airplane roughly followed the runway heading while climbing until it reached the end of the runway. The airplane then entered a left turn, and the airspeed, which had reached a maximum of about 102 knots began to decrease. At 0839:57, the airplane was at a pressure altitude of 507 ft. At this point, the airspeed had dropped to about 80 knots, and the airplane was in a left bank of about 45°. The recorded data ended about 60 seconds before impact because the system did not have time to write the buffered data to the system's memory card before the unit lost power.
According to the pilot, when the airplane came to a stop, the left wing was burning. The pilot told his daughter to get out of the airplane, which she did. His wife and daughter-in-law were both unconscious, so he asked his daughter to help him get them out. They got his daughter-in-law out first and then his wife, who was conscious by then.
When the witness got to the airplane, there was a small fire coming from the left wing. The pilot had already egressed, and his daughter was in the process of exiting the airplane. The pilot's daughter-in-law was laying on the floor of the airplane between the middle and aft rows of seats. The witness picked her up and laid her down by the road in front of the house. The pilot then went back into the airplane to get his wife out. She had facial injuries, and the witness helped to get her out of the airplane by kicking open the lower cabin door, grabbing her by her hands, and dragging her out of the airplane.
Pilot Information
According to Federal Aviation Administration airman records, the pilot held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land, airplane multi-engine land, and instrument airplane. He held an FAA third-class medical certificate dated June 17, 2015, with no limitations. The pilot reported that he had accrued about 1,990 total hours of flight experience, of which 427 hours were in the accident airplane make and model.
Aircraft Description
The airplane was a high-performance, single-engine, pressurized, six-place, low-wing monoplane certificated in the normal category. It was equipped with retractable landing gear and wing flaps. It was powered by a 500-shaft horsepower, Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A turboprop engine, driving a 4-bladed, hydraulically actuated, constant-speed, full-feathering, reversible-type propeller. The airplane was certificated for flight in visual, instrument, day, night, and icing conditions.
According to FAA airworthiness records and airplane maintenance records, the airplane was manufactured in 2007. Its most recent annual inspection was completed on October 1, 2015. At the time of the accident, the airplane had accrued about 1,407 total hours of operation.
The unpressurized nose section included the engine compartment and nose landing gear assembly. The engine compartment contained the powerplant and associated accessories. The forward section of the engine compartment was enclosed by a two-piece nose cowl. Aft of the nose cowl, two hinged access doors provided servicing and inspection access to components in the aft engine compartment. The left access door provided access to the engine oil sight gauge and the brake fluid reservoir. The right access door provided access to the fuel control unit, fuses, fuel line, oil line, and the battery charging port.
The access doors were attached to the airplane structure with piano-type hinges and secured with latches. Once opened, each door was held in the open position by a support rod with a "twist-lock" mechanism. The doors were closed by slightly lifting on the door, then unlocking the mechanism by twisting the upper part of the support rod a quarter-turn while holding the lower part of the support rod. Once the mechanism was unlocked, the door could be lowered into the closed position and latched.
Weather Conditions
The reported weather at CRX, at 0915, included wind 100° at 4 knots, 10 miles visibility, clear skies, temperature 15°C, dew point 11°C, and an altimeter setting of 29.98 inches of mercury.
Wreckage Examination
The airplane came to rest about 1,792 ft from the departure end of runway 18 on a 132° magnetic heading on the front lawn of a residence. Examination of photographs of the wreckage taken at the accident site revealed that the right cowl door was open.
During the impact sequence the nose landing gear was separated from the airframe. The nose gear actuator was found in the down and locked position. The firewall was separated from the forward pressure bulkhead. The tail section was impact-damaged and crushed downward. The fuselage was accordion-crushed forward and down. The left access door was found separated from its mounting points with bent hinges. The right access door was found open and unlatched with minimal damage; its support rod was found lying on top of the battery bay, and the battery charging port cover was not installed. The right access door latches were functional with no deformation.
Control continuity was established. The bleed air switch was on, power lever full, condition lever run, manual override off, fuel shutoff valve stowed, landing gear selector down, wing flap lever set to 10°. The engine displayed impact damage but no preimpact anomalies.
Additional Information
The FAA's Airplane Flying Handbook discusses door opening in flight, emphasizing maintaining aircraft control. The airplane manufacturer's pilot's operating handbook included guidance on preflight checks, including checking and securing the right cowl door. The pilot's daughter-in-law, who was seated in the left aft seat, died 227 days after the accident from complications of subdural hemorrhage due to blunt force head injuries.