History of Flight
On October 4, 2019, about 2033 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-180, N2FB, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Asheboro, North Carolina. The private pilot and a student pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operating as a personal flight under 14 CFR Part 91.
Earlier that day, the accident pilot flew as a passenger in the same airplane from Asheboro Regional Airport (HBI) to Knoxville Downtown Island Airport (DKX) to purchase another airplane. After the transaction, a rated pilot flew the newly purchased airplane to HBI. The accident pilot and passenger departed DKX about 30 minutes later, with the accident pilot in the left seat. The seller of the other airplane reported that the accident pilot remarked about being tired and said his passenger needed to be "on his game."
The pilot of the purchased airplane arrived at HBI and waited for the accident airplane. He heard the accident pilot announce intentions to overfly the field west to east and enter the left downwind leg for runway 21. He watched the airplane overfly the field, turn left, and disappear behind trees. Dark night conditions prevailed. After the airplane did not arrive, a search began.
Radar data from the FAA showed a target with a VFR transponder code correlated to the accident airplane. It arrived overhead HBI about 2029 from the west before turning southbound (right). The airplane made a 360° right turn about 2 miles south of runway 3 before resuming a southwesterly heading. The last target was at 2032:55 over the accident site. Witnesses reported the airplane circled over a local high school where a football game was in progress, then entered a steep, nose-down descent with the engine running at high speed.
The pilot of the purchased airplane, who flew the accident airplane earlier, reported that the vacuum pump was not operational and the vacuum instruments were unreliable. The accident pilot was aware but did not voice concerns about night flying. The accident pilot had previously mentioned not enjoying night flying.
Personnel Information
The accident pilot owned the airplane and held a private pilot certificate with a rating for single-engine land. His logbook showed 4.6 total night flight hours, none since 2008. His most recent flight review was January 6, 2016. His most recent FAA medical certificate was issued June 2015.
Aircraft Information
The aircraft and engine logbooks were not located after the accident.
Meteorological Information
The accident occurred about 2033. The moon set about 1959, and at 2032 the moon's elevation angle was 10.58° below the horizon.
Wreckage and Impact Information
The accident site was in a wooded area about 2 miles south-southeast of HBI. Initial impact was an 80-foot-tall oak tree; a large section of the right wing lodged in the tree about 50 feet up. Main wreckage was about 75 feet east. The debris path was about 208 feet long and 108 feet wide, oriented on a heading of 080°.
The wings and fuselage were highly fragmented. No fire occurred. The engine separated from the airframe on impact. Flight control continuity was confirmed from cockpit to surfaces. The instrument panel and firewall were fragmented and destroyed. Avionics and instruments were impact-damaged, preventing usable data recording. An unidentified gyro and housing were found separated; the housing had scoring inside and the gyro rotational damage. The vacuum pump was removed and disassembled; the drive coupling was sheared, and rotor assembly fractured.
Flap position could not be determined. Stabilator trim was found in a partial nose-up position. The engine had impact damage throughout. Both magnetos were impact damaged; one separated. Carburetor broke away. The fixed-pitch aluminum propeller was partially buried; some twisting observed on one blade. The other blade was fracture-separated near the hub, with polishing and chordwise scoring on the cambered face and curling near the tip. Sections of wood along the debris path showed angled cuts consistent with being cut by the propeller under power.
Medical and Pathological Information
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Raleigh, North Carolina, determined the pilot's cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries, manner accident. The exam was limited by extensive injuries; no contributory natural disease was identified.
Toxicology testing by the FAA Forensic Sciences Laboratory detected ethanol in the pilot's brain tissue at 0.014 gm/hg but not in muscle. Meloxicam, a non-impairing medication for arthritic pain, was detected in liver and muscle. Marijuana's primary psychoactive chemical, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was found in liver, kidney, and lung tissue; the equally psychoactive metabolite 11-hydroxy-delta-9-THC in liver; and the inactive metabolite carboxy-delta-9-THC (THC-COOH) in liver and kidney.
The passenger's cause of death was also multiple blunt force injuries, manner accident. No significant natural disease was identified.
Toxicology for the passenger detected ethanol in brain and muscle tissue at 0.032 gm/hg and 0.043 gm/hg respectively; n-propanol was also detected in muscle. No other drugs were detected.
The source noted that ethanol is a central nervous system depressant that impairs judgment, psychomotor functioning, and vigilance, and that marijuana can cause alterations in motor behavior, time and space perception, and cognition, with performance impairments typically lasting at least 1-2 hours.