NTSB Factual Report

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On November 13, 2011, at 1736 eastern standard time, a Cirrus Design Corp SR22, N661FT, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain within the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge near Boynton Beach, Florida. The certificated commercial pilot and the certificated private pilot were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the flight. The personal flight, which originated at Witham Field (SUA), Stuart, Florida about 1722, was operated under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91.

The pilots were returning from an air show at SUA, with a presumed destination of Willis Gliderport (FA44), Boynton Beach, Florida. Flying in formation with the accident airplane were a Sukhoi Su-29 and an Extra EA-300, each piloted by a friend of the commercial pilot. After joining in formation about 10 nautical miles south of SUA, the flight proceeded southwest.

Shortly after the flight crossed the northern border of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, the pilot of the Su-29 observed the accident airplane's pitch smoothly increase upward to an angle of about 30 degrees. The airplane then began a roll to the left, and pitched nose-down as it rolled to an inverted attitude. As the airplane descended, it began to roll right, before it impacted the marsh below in an approximate 80-degree nose-down pitch attitude.

The pilot of the Su-29 subsequently entered a left orbit around the accident site and contacted air traffic control to report the accident.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

Information provided by the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner, and photographic information recovered from the wreckage, confirmed the seating position (left/right) of each pilot.

The right seat pilot, age 34, held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single and multi-engine land, rotorcraft helicopter, and instrument airplane and helicopter. According to his Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airman file, the right seat pilot obtained a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single engine land on May 17, 1996. He subsequently obtained numerous category and class ratings, a commercial pilot certificate, and a type rating between the time of the issuance of his private pilot certificate and February 2004. On February 17, 2006, the pilot submitted a letter of surrender to the FAA, which constituted an "unequivocal abandonment" of his commercial pilot certificate. The stated reason for the surrender was, "Voluntary surrender in anticipation of FAA certificate action." No further details regarding the precipitating circumstances of the anticipated FAA certificate action were contained within the file. On August 31, 2008, the right seat pilot obtained a student pilot certificate, and between that time and June 2010, the pilot obtained all of the certificates and ratings held at the time of the accident.

Two of the right seat pilot’s personal pilot flight logs were recovered from the accident site that documented flights between December 2004 and September 2011. The combined total flight experience documented in both logs was 4,384 hours, 183 hours of which were in the accident airplane make and model. A survey of the various airplane and helicopter make/model aircraft represented in both logbooks showed that the pilot had not logged any previous flight experience in aerobatic aircraft during this period.

The pilots of the other aircraft flying in formation with the accident airplane enroute to SUA, and during the accident flight, provided characterizations of the right seat pilot during separate post-accident interviews. The pilots consistently described the right seat pilot as, “a really good stick,” and an “adrenaline junkie.” They described his aerobatic flight experience as “low,” and stated that he may have had participated in some previous aerobatic flights with other pilots in aerobatic aircraft; however he was not known within the group to be a pilot with aerobatic experience.

One of the pilots stated he was “aware” that the right seat pilot had “rolled the Cirrus” in the past, but that he had never personally observed the right seat pilot perform the maneuver. Specifically, the pilot was aware that the right seat pilot had rolled the accident airplane through 360 degrees of continuous roll during a flight from Boca Raton Airport (BCT), Boca Raton, Florida to FA44. The pilot never heard the right seat pilot talk about the maneuver, though, as he was “not the type of person to brag about something like that.” The pilot finally stated regarding the accident flight, “everyone was confident that [the right seat pilot] tried to roll it,” and that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the accident airplane.

The left seat pilot, age 23, held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single engine land and instrument airplane. He obtained his private pilot certificate on November 1, 2006, and his instrument rating on August 28, 2010. No personal flight logs for the left seat pilot were available for review.

On the left seat pilot's application for his instrument rating, he reported he possessed 168 total hours of flight experience. Additional review of records provided by the operator showed that as of January 2011, the left seat pilot had accumulated 195 total hours of experience. Since that time, the left seat pilot had accumulated 12 additional flight hours in various make and model aircraft provided by the operator, none of which were the accident airplane or the accident airplane make and model.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

According to aircraft registration information provided by the FAA, the airplane was manufactured in 2008. Review of maintenance logs showed that the airplane’s most recent annual inspection was completed on October 6, 2011 at 733 total aircraft hours. When the right seat pilot took possession of the airplane on November 11, 2011, the airplane had accumulated 765 total hours of operation.

The airplane was operated by Air Orlando Airplane Flight Training and Rental, LLC (doing business as Air Orlando Flight School) as a rental aircraft available for flight training, and was also available for 14 CFR Part 135 flights. According to the operator, the airplane was rented to the right seat pilot for his personal use from November 11, 2011 through November 13, 2011. According to the operator’s rental agreement, “Renter agrees that rented aircraft shall not be used or operated… By any person other than the Renter who signed the agreement without the express written approval of Air Orlando Flight School.” Several rental agreements were on file with the operator for the left seat pilot; however none of the agreements pertained to the accident airplane.

METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION

The weather conditions reported at Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), West Palm Beach, Florida, located about 12 nautical miles northeast of the accident site, at 1753, included winds from 60 degrees at 8 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, few clouds at 3,100 feet, a temperature of 24 degrees Celsius (C), a dewpoint of 18 degrees C, and altimeter setting of 30.12 inches of mercury.

Sunset occurred at 1731 and the end of civil twilight occurred at 1755. At 1735 the sun was 1.7 degrees below the horizon, at an azimuth of 250 degrees magnetic.

FLIGHT RECORDERS

Recoverable Data Module (RDM)

A crash-hardened flight data recording device was installed in the vertical stabilizer of the accident airplane, and was recovered from the airplane at the accident site. The RDM recorded numerous critical flight parameters at a rate of 1 Hz. Data from the RDM were recorded without incident, and about 145 hours of flight time were present. The data contained the entirety of the accident flight, and further review showed two other flights of interest to the investigation. All altitudes given below are pressure altitudes recorded by the RDM, unless otherwise stated.

On November 11, 2011, two days prior to the accident flight, the airplane departed BCT at 1654 and climbed to an altitude of about 2,000 feet, before beginning a shallow descent to 1,800 feet. At 1658, the airplane began to pitch up and roll to the left, reaching about 30 degrees of nose-up pitch and completing 360 degrees of roll. The airplane then continued to FA44, and landed at 1701.

On the morning of the accident flight, the airplane departed from BCT at 1030 and climbed to an altitude of 1,500 feet. At 1037, the airplane began descending and leveled off at an altitude of about 600 feet at 1048. At 1057, the airplane began pitching nose-up and rolling to the left, reaching 32 degrees of nose-up pitch and completing 360 degrees of roll. The airplane completed a low pass down runway 12 at SUA at a GPS altitude of less than 75 feet and an indicated airspeed of 142 knots before it climbed to about 500 feet, circled the airport, and landed at 1105.

On the accident flight, the airplane departed from SUA at 1722 and climbed to about 1,000 feet. Over the next 11 minutes, the airplane remained between 500 and 1,000 feet as it flew to the southwest. At 1734:53, the airplane descended through a GPS altitude of 161 feet, and the measured pressure altitude was 0 feet. Over the next 1 minute 24 seconds, the GPS altitude varied from a high of 195 feet to a low of 38 feet, while the pressure altitude recorded an invalid negative value. Beginning at 1736:18, while flying at a GPS altitude of 61 feet, the airplane began a roll to the left that reached a maximum bank angle of 66 degrees about 4 seconds later. The airplane then began rolling back to the right, and at 1736:19 reached a maximum right bank angle of 70 degrees, after climbing to a GPS altitude of 308 feet. At that time, the recorded pressure altitude was 109 feet. The airplane returned to a relatively level roll attitude about 4 seconds later.

Shortly after, the airplane began descending again, reaching a low GPS altitude of 145 feet at 1736:33. At that time, the pressure altitude was recorded as an invalid negative value. The pitch angle then began to increase, reaching a maximum of 27 degrees nose-up at 1736:36, at a GPS altitude of 129 feet, and a pressure altitude of 29 feet. Within 2 seconds, a left roll began that continued past 90 degrees, and as the roll increased, the pitch angle also began to rapidly decrease. As the airplane reached 178 degrees of left roll, the pitch had decreased to 30 degrees nose-down, at a maximum pressure altitude of 353 feet. The airplane then began to descend, and the pitch continued to decrease to 67 degrees nose-down one second later, as the roll transitioned past inverted to 138 degrees of right roll. The final recorded data point, one second later, showed the airplane in a 68 degree nose-down pitch attitude and a 42-degree right roll, at a pressure altitude of 205 feet and an airspeed of 156 knots. The normal acceleration (g loading) of the airplane varied from 0.96gs at the beginning of the pitch up, to 0.1gs as the airplane reached 103 degrees of left roll, to a maximum of 3.67gs, recorded 1 second prior to the final recorded data point.

Mobile Device Images

A Research in Motion BlackBerry 9700 mobile device was recovered from the wreckage and examined to determine whether relevant photographs or video were present. A microSD flash memory card was extracted from the device and found to contain 14 photos and 14 videos that were captured on the day of the accident. The photo and video files were time stamped in the file name with the date and local time of the capture, accurate to the nearest minute.

One photo, captured at 1054 on the day of the accident, showed the accident airplane as it flew in close formation with another aircraft, from which the photo was taken. The final four photos, captured between 1730 and 1733, were taken from within the accident airplane in flight. Two of the photos depicted two other airplanes flying in a trailing formation off of the accident airplane’s right wing, while one of the later photos shows one airplane in a trailing formation off of the accident airplane’s left wing. The airplanes immediately off of the accident airplane’s left and right wings in the two photos appeared to be the same, though the registration number was not visible in either photo. One of the photos also showed that the left seat pilot was wearing a black t-shirt and that both shoulder restraints were on, while another photo showed that the right seat pilot was wearing a gray t-shirt. Only the right shoulder of the right seat occupant was visible, and the occupant did not appear to be wearing that shoulder restraint.

A video captured at 1050 on the day of the accident, with the device operator seated in the left seat of a helicopter, showed the accident airplane flying in the lead of a formation to the left of the helicopter, and a green and yellow Extra 300, registration N999AS, flying in formation behind and to the left of the accident airplane. The next video, captured at 1051, showed the green and yellow Extra 300 flying inverted just ahead and to the left of the accident airplane. The Extra 300 then rolled to the left and dipped below the accident airplane before disappearing from view beneath of the nose of the helicopter. Review of the RDM data showed that at 1051, the accident airplane was flying at a GPS altitude of about 500 feet, and a pressure altitude of about 250 feet.

WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION

The accident site was located in a marshland, about 15 nautical miles southwest of North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport (F45), West Palm Beach, Florida. The wreckage exhibited severe fragmentation and was submerged under a layer of water and mud that was estimated to be about 15 feet deep. Portions of the wreckage recovered included all flight control surfaces, the empennage, portions of both wings, and portions of the fuselage. The engine, firewall, instrument panel, and portion of the fuselage around the center wing spar were recovered about 2 months after the accident.

The fuselage was fragmented, and some of the identified components included the left and right side fuselage skins, upper and lower engine cowlings, baggage compartment floor, roll cage, and ceiling components. A fragment and a door hinge from the right cabin door were observed. Fragments from the left cabin door were observed. The baggage door was not observed.

The empennage remained intact and had separated from the aft portion of the cabin. The horizontal stabilizer remained attached to the empennage and exhibited impact damage. The left elevator remained attached to the horizontal stabilizer by only the inboard attach point and exhibited impact damage. The right elevator remained attached to the horizontal stabilizer and exhibited impact damage. The pitch trim motor was in an approximate neutral position.

The wings were fragmented, and some of the identified portions included the upper and lower wing skins, torque box components, spar, aft shear web, and both wingtips. Both upper wing skins exhibited aft buckling and crushing along their entire length. The right and left ailerons were separated from the wing and exhibited impact damage. The roll trim motor was positioned between neutral and full left trim. The right and left flaps were separated from the wing and exhibited impact damage. On both flaps, the inboard and mid-span hinges were present with appropriate hardware and safeties at the hinge point. The flap actuator shaft separated from the flap motor and the shaft was not observed.

The right main landing gear assembly remained attached to a fragment of torque box structure. The majority of fairings had separated from the assembly. The left main landing gear assembly was not observed, though a corresponding wheel pant fragment was noted. The upper portion of the nose landing gear assembly remained attached to a portion of engine mount weldment, but the strut and wheel assembly was not observed.

The left front pilot seat was separated from its seat tracks. The lower frame of the seat had deformation present. The seatbelt airbag had inflated, and the vent holes exhibited “squaring.” The

NTSB Probable Cause

The right seat pilot’s decision to attempt a low-altitude aerobatic maneuver in a non-aerobatic airplane.