NTSB Factual Report

On January 25, 2015, about 1430 eastern standard time, a Cessna 150L, N10616, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain while on approach to Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport (FHB), Fernandina Beach, Florida. The commercial pilot sustained serious injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight, which departed Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL), Lakeland, Florida, at an unknown time, destined for FHB. The flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

During a postaccident interview, the pilot reported that, as was his usual procedure, he flew along the west boundary of the Jacksonville Class B airspace until he was due west of his home airport. At which time he turned the airplane east, flew along the north boundary of the Class B airspace, directly to his home base airport. The distance between the departure and destination airports was about 160 nautical miles. Shortly after making the turn to the east, he experienced a "pain" in his right shoulder, which he experienced before when on a "long" car ride. After adjusting his seating position, he reported that the pain was tolerable. About 20 miles from his home base airport an "intense pain" began in his left shoulder, which was something he had not experienced previously. He contacted air traffic control, declared an emergency, and requested that an ambulance wait for him at the airport due to the intense pain. He attempted to line up for runway 9; however, he stated that he was unable to do so. He could not recall any details after that time.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector that responded to the accident location, the airplane impacted a berm on the east edge of a retention pond, about 1/2 mile from the approach end of runway 13. The airplane left a ground scar about 200 ft in length; subsequently, the nose landing gear separated and the airplane nosed over coming to rest inverted on the top of the berm. Photographs provided by the FAA inspector revealed that the fuselage was buckled, the outboard approximate 4 ft of the left wing was impact damaged, the top of the rudder was damaged, and forward of the firewall was bent. The propeller blades exhibited blade tip curling beginning about mid-span of the blades. There were no preimpact malfunctions or abnormalities noted with the airplane, that would have precluded normal operation.

Aircraft recovery personnel reported that about 15 gallons of fuel was removed from the fuel tanks and that the fuel tanks were unbreached.

Aircraft maintenance records provided by the mechanic indicated that the airplane's most recent annual inspection was recorded on January 22, 2014. At the time of the inspection the airplane had 8,891.2 total hours time in service. The airplane was powered by a Continental O-200-A engine.

According to the FAA, the 90-year-old pilot's most recent medical certification examination occurred on May 15, 2014, and included the limitation for corrective lenses for both near and distant vision. The certificate was also marked "not valid for any class after May 31, 2015." He had received a special issuance medical certificate due to diabetes since 2003. At the time of the medical examination, the pilot reported 25,265.5 total hours of flight experience.

Hospital records indicated that the pilot extricated himself from the airplane after the accident. He had been admitted to the hospital for about 3 weeks, due to injuries sustained during the accident. However, postaccident hospital evaluation found no definitive reason for the reported intense pain.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot’s physical impairment due to intense pain, which resulted in his failure to maintain airplane control.