What happened
A cross-country flight involving a pilot and three passengers ended in a crash when their twin-engine aircraft struck a remote wooded area approximately 8 miles northwest of the intended destination. During the final stages of the flight, the pilot transitioned from instrument flight rules to visual flight rules and notified the tower controller that the plane was roughly 2 miles from the airport. However, air traffic controllers observed the aircraft flying at an altitude of 200 feet over a nearby joint military airfield.
GPS analysis later determined that at the moment the pilot reported being 2 miles from the destination, the aircraft was actually 10 miles away from that airport and 2 miles from the military installation. The flight occurred amidst thunderstorm cells, and light precipitation likely reduced the pilot's visibility. Because the IFR approach path for the destination airport passes directly over the military airfield, the pilot likely confused the two locations.
Findings
Investigation into the crash suggests the accident was a case of controlled flight into terrain. The pilot's ability to visually identify the destination was compromised by weather conditions. While toxicology reports identified ethanol, carbon monoxide, and cyanide in the pilot's system, these findings were consistent with postmortem bacterial activity and inhalation of smoke following the post-impact fire.