History of Flight
On May 6, 2022, at about 0844 eastern daylight time, a Cirrus Design Corp SR22, registration N24LA, was substantially damaged when it impacted the Atlantic Ocean near Tybee Island, Georgia. The private pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operating under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight.
According to review of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data and air traffic control information from the Federal Aviation Administration, the airplane departed runway 27 at Whiteplains Airport (SC99), Lexington, South Carolina, around 0738. It turned southbound, climbed to about 4,000 ft mean sea level (msl), and flew for about 10 nautical miles (nm). The pilot requested and received an approach clearance for the RNAV GPS approach to runway 17 at Barnwell Regional Airport (BNL), Barnwell, South Carolina, about 48 miles from SC99.
The air traffic controller asked the pilot to provide a position report inbound on the approach over the FATSU waypoint. The pilot acknowledged but did not report passing the waypoint. The airplane overflew runway 17 at BNL at about 2,200 ft msl and continued flying on a 170° heading for another 113 miles. It crossed the eastern coastline of Tybee Island and continued over the Atlantic Ocean for about 15 miles, then began to slow and descend briefly. When passing through about 1,500 ft msl, the airplane entered a left arcing descending turn with an increase in groundspeed. The last ADS-B data, received at 0844, showed the airplane descending through 75 ft msl about 18 nm southeast of Tybee Island.
Air traffic control asked pilots in another airplane to check on N24LA. Those pilots rocked their wings but could not get the accident pilot's attention and watched as the airplane descended into the ocean.
Wreckage and Impact Information
Postaccident examination of the recovered airframe confirmed flight control continuity from the cockpit controls to all primary flight control surfaces. Examination of the airframe and engine found no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Medical and Pathological Information
An autopsy of the pilot performed by the Division of Forensic Sciences, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Coastal Regional Medical Examiner’s Office, determined the cause of death as drowning, with the manner accidental. Toxicological testing by the FAA Forensic Sciences Laboratory detected ethanol in the pilot’s heart blood tissues. Metoprolol, a high blood pressure medication generally considered non-impairing, was found in heart and liver tissues. Postmortem ethanol concentrations in blood samples have been positively correlated with the number of days before body recovery at sea.
The pilot reported a history of ablation for atrial fibrillation with an implanted loop recorder, for which he had received an FAA special issuance authorization. During the period when the pilot did not report the waypoint and did not respond to ATC, there was a 7-minute 43-second episode of tachycardia with a median heart rate of 300 beats per minute.