On June 26, 2021, at 2039 mountain daylight time, a Searey LSX airplane, N62EF, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Logan, Utah. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
According to the pilot’s son (who was also a pilot), he and his father had recently purchased the airplane. The day before the accident, they flew to Paine Field, Everette, Washington to pick up the airplane, and flew it back to Logan Airport (LGU), Logan, Utah. The pilot’s son also stated the airplane was a relatively docile airplane and indicated that it did not have the performance that their “Husky” airplane had. The airplane burned about 5 gallons of fuel per hour, and they landed at LGU with about 11 gallons of fuel remaining. The pilot’s son was unsure if the accident pilot added fuel before the accident flight.
On the day of the accident, the pilot’s son spoke to the pilot and invited him to overfly a house where he would be with friends having a barbeque. The pilot’s son witnessed the airplane approach the house from the south and recalled the airplane was low, about 500 to 700 ft above ground level (agl) and flying about 40 knots groundspeed. The pilot waved as he flew past, and then turned the airplane to the right, which was toward rising terrain. The witness noted that the turn was “tight...like how the pilot would fly his Husky airplane.” As the airplane was turning, the right wing dropped. The wings then leveled, followed by the left wing dropping. The witness observed the wings level again, heard the engine increase in power, and observed the nose pitch up. The airplane began to climb and struck a neighboring house while in a nose high attitude. The airplane came to rest in the attic section of the house.
Another witness observed the airplane flying low (about 100 ft agl), and slow (about 50 to 60 knots). He noted the flightpath was erratic as it banked from left to right. He then observed the airplane bank sharply to the right about 45° to 60° as it turned 180° to the south, before it descended behind the house.
A third witness reported that the airplane approached what he described as a canyon, or “bench” area above the property and turned right 180° toward terrain. He stated that although the bank angle was not excessive, it was more aggressive than required for a standard rate turn, presumably to avoid terrain. As the airplane rolled out, now on a heading of about 170°, the right wing and nose dropped. It appeared that the pilot was attempting a recovery, when the left wing dropped, and the airplane impacted a house.
A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunction that would have precluded normal operation.
Examination of the engine revealed that both carburetors were excessively fuel-stained on their exteriors, and the rubber flange assemblies, located between the carburetors and the aluminum intakes, were torn. The floats for both carburetors were secure and within the allowable weight range. The carburetor for cylinder Nos. 1 and 3 contained a black substance that stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Examination of the spark plugs revealed they were not correct for the engine application, and they were not gapped in accordance with Rotax specifications. Additionally, the electrodes appeared worn. The engine was rotated by hand and displayed good thumb compression; the engine turned smoothly and without unusual noise coming from the case.
The airplane was equipped with a Dynon Skyview D700 (a panel-mounted combination Electronic Flight Instrumentation System [EFIS] and Engine Monitoring System [EMS]) and a Garmin GPSMAP 696 (a portable GPS receiver capable of storing date, route-of-flight, and flight-time information for up to 50 flights). Both units were recovered and sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorder Laboratory for data extraction.
The data from the Garmin GPSMAP 696 revealed the airplane departed LGU and then completed two oval-shaped patterns over the airport before heading toward the east/southeast (see figure 1). In the final 34 seconds of the flight, the airplane completed a 180° turn before the impact.
Figure 1. Google Earth overlay of the entire event flight. The blue flight track was recorded on the Garmin GPSMAP 696 and the yellow was recorded on the Dynon SkyView D700. The timestamps and data values shown were recorded on the Dynon.
A review of the data from the Dynon Skyview D700 indicated that for the last 5 minutes of flight, the engine power remained relatively constant. Two slight decreases in power were noted about 2028 and 2033 as indicated by the engine RPM, exhaust gas temperature (EGT), and manifold pressure (MP) parameters.
Toxicology testing performed by the FAA’s Forensic Services Laboratory on the pilot’s blood and urine detected the drug tamsulosin, commonly marketed as Flomax, which is not generally considered impairing.
An autopsy of the pilot was performed by the Utah Department of Health, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which listed the cause of death as “blunt force injuries.”