What happened
On October 30, 2019, a Piper PA-28R, registration N56258, was involved in a fatal accident near Atlanta, Georgia. The flight was being operated under instrument flight rules (IFR) in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) with an overcast ceiling of 400 feet and visibility of 6 miles in mist.
After departing, the pilot contacted the departure controller while climbing through 2,000 feet mean sea level (msl). The pilot was instructed to climb to 5,000 feet msl and proceed toward the Athens (AHN) VORTAC. During the flight, the pilot performed several turns and eventually notified the controller that the aircraft had lost its vacuum gauge.
At that moment, the aircraft was at 5,075 feet msl with a ground speed of 80 knots. Following a brief turn to the northeast, the airplane entered a right turn and descended rapidly to 3,800 feet in just 17 seconds. The controller instructed the pilot to maintain wings level and a specific altitude, but the pilot did not respond. Radar contact was lost shortly after, with the aircraft's last recorded ground speed being 154 knots.
The aircraft impacted a residential apartment building approximately 1.5 miles southeast of the departure airport. The wreckage was distributed over a debris field roughly 790 feet in length. Portions of the empennage had separated from the airframe prior to impact.
The investigation
Investigators examined the wreckage and found that flight control continuity was maintained from the cockpit to the control surfaces, though some separations were consistent with overload or recovery efforts. The right wing spar and portions of the left wing showed fractures consistent with overload and impact.
The engine was examined, and all four cylinders showed no anomalies. However, the investigation of the vacuum pump revealed that the composite drive assembly had fractured. The maintenance logs indicated that while the most recent annual inspection occurred in September 2019, the vacuum pump itself had been installed approximately 16 years and 600 flight hours prior to the accident.
Findings
- The pilot was flying in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).
- The failure of the vacuum pump's composite drive assembly resulted in the loss of the pilot's primary attitude reference.
- The pilot likely experienced spatial disorientation following the instrument failure, leading to a loss of control.