History of Flight
On September 27, 2023, at about 2249 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28-161, registration N3079M, was destroyed in an accident near Whitesville, Kentucky. The flight instructor and student pilot were fatally injured. The airplane was operated by Eagle Flight Academy as a Part 91 instructional flight.
According to the operator and the student pilot’s regular flight instructor, the accident flight was a return leg of a night cross-country flight intended to meet the student’s night flight training requirements before a private pilot practical examination. It was the first time the student pilot and the accident flight instructor flew together.
ADS-B data showed the airplane departed Bowling Green-Woodhurst Airport (BWG) around 2155, climbed to 4,500 ft mean sea level, and proceeded northwest toward Owensboro/Daviess County Regional Airport (OWB) under visual flight rules. A social media post by the flight instructor at 2215 displayed an annotated image from a navigation tool showing the airplane’s position, route, and weather radar imagery.
At 2244, the pilot contacted ATC and was advised of heavy to extreme precipitation at the airplane’s nine o’clock position. About two minutes later, the flight instructor requested an instrument flight rules clearance. The controller issued the clearance and provided an easterly radar vector. The flight instructor reported that the airplane was “getting blown around like crazy” and experiencing “pretty extreme turbulence.” The flight track showed a right descending turn, and no further communications were received. The last ADS-B position, at 2249, was at 2,200 ft and about 1,000 ft northwest of the wreckage debris field, which spanned 25 acres in a hilly, densely wooded area.
Personnel Information
The flight instructor received his initial certificate about five months before the accident, on April 10, 2023. According to his logbook and FAA records, he had accrued about 447 total flight hours, including 20 at night and 6.6 in actual instrument meteorological conditions. The student pilot had about 37 total flight hours.
Meteorological Information
A weather briefing obtained by the flight instructor via ForeFlight included a convective SIGMET active for the accident location and time, warning of severe thunderstorms with cloud tops to 42,000 ft, hail up to 1.25 inches in diameter, and wind gusts to 50 kts. The convective SIGMET area was moving from 280° at 15 knots and implied severe or greater turbulence, severe icing, and low-level wind shear. The weather radar image in the flight instructor’s social media post was from internet sources, not Flight Information Services – Broadcast, and was about 10 minutes old relative to the airplane’s position at the time of the screen capture.
Wreckage and Impact Information
All major components except the left portion of the stabilator were located in the debris field. The fuselage was separated aft of the rear seat; the forward fuselage, cockpit, engine, and right wing were together in the western part of the debris field. The left wing, with aileron attached, was about 800 ft east of the forward fuselage. The right wing remained attached to the forward fuselage but was inverted. The empennage with vertical stabilizer was about 200 ft north. The rudder was torn diagonally, and the stabilator was torn chordwise. The right side of the stabilator was about 1,500 ft away. The wreckage was recovered for examination. The left wing’s interior ribs showed signatures consistent with the aileron bellcrank being pulled from its mount and drawn through the wing. The engine examination revealed no preaccident anomalies; the propeller blades appeared straight, compression and suction were observed, valvetrain continuity was confirmed, and both magnetos produced spark. No malfunctions were found that would have precluded normal operation.
Medical and Pathological Information
An autopsy of both pilots by the Western Kentucky Office of the Medical Examiner listed the cause of death as multiple blunt force trauma. Toxicological tests by the FAA were negative for the flight instructor. The student pilot’s tests were positive for ethanol, propanol, and Cetirizine. Ethanol was attributed to postmortem production due to putrefaction. Cetirizine is an over-the-counter antihistamine with sedating effects, but the investigation could not determine impairment.