Flight Details
Prior to the accident flight, the pilot indicated awareness of thunderstorm activity along the route and anticipated deviating around the weather as necessary. During the flight, the pilot requested and received both weather information and pilot reports from other aircraft via air traffic control (ATC).
Weather Encounter
Upon encountering an area of thunderstorm activity that extended east-to-west across the route, the pilot reported significant turbulence and then downdrafts of 2,000 feet per minute. He requested a course reversal to exit the weather before declaring an emergency and advising ATC that the airplane was upside down. No further transmissions were received from the pilot, and radar contact with the airplane was lost.
Radar and Weather Analysis
Radar data review revealed that the pilot had deviated south and then southwest when the airplane entered a strong and intense echo of extreme intensity. Visible imaging showed that the echo was located in an area of a rapidly developing cumulonimbus cloud with a defined overshooting top, indicating the storm was in the mature stage or at its maximum intensity. Two debris fields were later discovered near the area where the cumulonimbus cloud had been observed, indicative that the airplane had penetrated the main core of the cloud, resulting in an inflight breakup. Near the heavier echoes, the airplane's airborne weather radar may have been unable to provide an accurate representation of the radar echoes along the flight path; therefore, the final penetration of the intense portion of the storm was likely unintentional.