Cirrus SR22 N224AG accident off Cherbourg, 16 November 2008

Flight and Impact Details On 16 November 2008, a Cirrus SR22 GTS Perspective, registration N224AG, departed Biggin Hill in the United Kingdom at 16:30 UTC for Jersey under a VFR flight plan. The aircraft was operating at flight level 50 over the English Channel. Around 17:10 UTC, the pilot began a descent to flight level 45 and was subsequently cleared to descend to 3,000 feet. The descent rate was approximately 875 feet per minute. Just before reaching 3,000 feet, the aircraft entered a steep right turn and impacted the water surface at high speed approximately 15 nautical miles north of Cherbourg, France. The impact caused the airframe to fragment into multiple pieces. Debris, including a seat and an inflatable life raft, was recovered during search operations. The aircraft was destroyed, and the pilot was killed. No distress signal was received, and the pilot did not transmit an emergency message or squawk an emergency transponder code. The body was not recovered, but DNA analysis confirmed the presence of the pilot's remains. The aircraft was not required to have a flight recorder, though an unprotected parameter recorder was installed but not recovered. The aircraft was equipped with a Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), but debris examination could not determine if it deployed before impact.