Fatal Nighttime Crash of Experimental Arion Lightning LS-1 Near Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (N81DJ)

Accident Overview and Flight Details On April 9, 2020, at approximately 2100 eastern daylight time, an experimental, amateur-built Arion Aircraft LLC Lightning LS-1 airplane, registration N81DJ, was destroyed in an accident near Mount Pleasant Regional Airport-Faison Field (LRO) in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The student pilot and the flight instructor were fatally injured. The aircraft was operating as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The student pilot, who had recently purchased the airplane, and the flight instructor departed Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) at approximately 2011 and flew to LRO, a distance of about 65 nautical miles. Air traffic control (ATC) communications and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data indicated that the pilot was cleared for takeoff on Runway 36 and instructed to fly the runway heading. The pilot correctly read back the clearance. At 2013, the controller handed off the flight to departure control, and the pilot reported climbing out of 600 feet mean sea level (MSL). The aircraft was radar identified, and the controller issued a left turn on course and instructed the pilot to maintain visual flight rules (VFR). At 2045, ATC instructed the pilot to maintain VFR at 3,000 feet. While en route at 3,000 feet, the pilot requested a descent into LRO at 2051, which ATC acknowledged and authorized at the pilot’s discretion. The pilot advised the controller that they would be executing a touch-and-go at LRO before returning to MYR. The controller instructed the pilot to remain on their beacon code, provided contact information for the subsequent departure and climb out of LRO, and authorized a change to the LRO common traffic advisory frequency. This was the last communication between the controller and the pilot. No additional communications were received. ADS-B data showed the airplane entering a descending left turn on final approach to LRO runway 17. The last ADS-B-recorded position showed the airplane at an altitude of 525 feet on final approach to the runway. About 8 minutes later, ATC was notified by local law enforcement that a witness had reported hearing an aircraft engine before the engine sound stopped near the airport. The departure end of the runway was surrounded by 75 to 100-foot-tall trees about 1,700 feet south-southeast of the departure end of the runway. Beyond the trees were residential areas and a highway, followed by a water inlet and the Atlantic Ocean, which was about 2 miles south-southeast of the airport. A line service employee at MYR reported that the day before the accident flight, the pilot and flight instructor completed a flight during the day. When they arrived back at MYR, they requested a fuel top off. The employee put 6.2 gallons of aviation fuel on board, which topped off both fuel tanks. No additional flights were flown until the accident flight the following evening. An additional witness stated that on the evening of the accident, the pilot and flight instructor informed her that they would be conducting a night flight and they would return late. She reported that both pilots appeared to be in good spirits as they left the building and that the airplane’s departure from MYR appeared “normal.”