N7648P

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On January 15, 2012, about 1005 eastern standard time, a Piper PA-24-180, N7648P, crashed into Cape Cod Bay near Brewster, Massachusetts. The airplane was registered to a private individual and was operated by a private pilot. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the instructional flight from Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts (MVY) to Hyannis, Massachusetts (HYA). The flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The airplane was substantially damaged. The private pilot and a flight instructor were fatally injured.

The pilot filed a flight plan and obtained a weather briefing through the Direct User Access Terminal System (DUATS) at 1459 on January 14, 2012, the day prior to the accident. The following remark was noted on the DUATS flight plan, “Practice Approaches - PIC: Robert Walker.”

According to his wife, the pilot was practicing instrument procedures as part of an instrument proficiency check. After performing two practice approaches, the pilot requested four turns in holding at MECEJ holding fix. After the pilot reported that he was established in the holding pattern at MEJEC, at 1504:01 (HHMM:SS), the controller queried the pilot on his altitude control, stating that the aircraft altitude was varying by 500 feet. The controller asked the pilot if he needed assistance, and the pilot replied, at 1504:09, “there’s smoke in the cabin.” At 1504:24, the pilot stated, “we’ve got to clear the smoke and uh…” At 1504:33, the last transmission was received from the pilot, “four eight pop I guess we’ll sit we’ll stay in the uh we’ve cleared the smoke we’ll stay in the uh…” Radar and radio contact was subsequently lost.

The pilot’s wife listened to the recorded ATC voice communications after the accident and reported that the voices from the aircraft related to smoke in the cabin were that of her husband, the pilot.

Recorded radar data indicated that, at 1504:05, the aircraft was proceeding in a westerly direction at 2,200 feet above mean sea level (msl). The last reliable radar return, at 1504:45, indicated that the airplane had commenced a right turn and descended to 1,300 feet msl. The wreckage was located about 0.3 nautical miles southeast of the last radar return.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

Pilot

The pilot held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land and instrument airplane. On an insurance application dated January 9, 2012, he reported 676 hours total time, including 111 in the PA-24. His latest document flight review occurred on October 22, 2011.

Flight Instructor

The flight instructor held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land, airplane multiengine land, airplane single engine sea, instrument airplane, ground instructor, and flight instructor (airplane single-engine and multiengine, instrument airplane). He reported 7,384 hours of total flight experience on his latest Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) second class medical certificate, dated March 30, 2011.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

The airplane was a single-engine, low wing, retractable gear airplane, serial number 24-2862. It was powered by a Lycoming O-360-A1D engine rated at 180 horsepower at 2,700 rpm. The tachometer (tach) time observed in the wreckage was 5,049.3 hours.

The aircraft was equipped with an electrically-heated pitot tube. The aircraft was not equipped with ice protection on the wings, stabilator, or vertical stabilizer and was not certificated for flight in icing conditions.

According to the aircraft maintenance records, the last recorded maintenance on the airplane occurred on December 16, 2011, at tach time 5,032.1 hours. The following entry was noted, “Checked for inoperative charging system, alternator circuit breaker found tripped, checked all alternator wiring from firewall forward, found that a 50 amp alternator circuit installed did not match 60-amp breaker called for in InterAv wiring diagram, 50-amp breaker previously approved by FAA form 337 dated 1/20/03, checked alternator brushes, adjusted alternator belt tension, ran engine several times and found charging system working properly, could not duplicate circuit breaker tripping. Replaced both wing tip navigation lamps P/N A7512-12.” The 50-amp circuit breaker was not replaced during the maintenance on December 16.

The last annual inspection on the airplane occurred on July 2, 2011, at tach time 4,983.9 hours.

On June 11, 2008, during an annual inspection, the master circuit breaker was removed and replaced with another 50 amp circuit breaker, part number W23X1A1G50.

The pilot’s wife reported the following maintenance discrepancies during an interview following the accident. In November, 2011, the landing gear would not extend and the alternate extension system was required to lower the gear. On January 4, 2012, the volt meter and amp meter were discharging. She stated that the airplane flew several times after that with no issues. There were no aircraft logbook entries to document the events.

According to the FAA, on December 27, 2011, the pilot was involved in an ATC deviation, and the pilot cited radio problems in his explanation of the event. ATC reported that the pilot did not respond to radio calls and deviated from his last assigned heading and altitude. The aircraft logbook did not include an entry related to a radio repair for the flight of December 27.

METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION

The closest weather reporting facility to the accident site was Chatham Municipal Airport (CQX), Chatham, Massachusetts, located about 8 miles southeast of the accident site at an elevation of 63 feet. The CQX weather observation at 0952 reported wind from 320 degrees at 10 knots gusting to 16 knots, visibility 7 miles in light snow, ceiling overcast at 1,600 feet above ground level (agl), temperature 9 degrees Celsius (C), dew point minus 13 degrees C, and altimeter setting 30.20 inches of mercury (Hg). Remarks included hourly precipitation less than 0.01 inch or trace and 6-hour precipitation total less than 0.01 inch.

The CQX special weather observation at 1012 included wind from 300 degrees at 11 knots gusting to 19 knots, visibility 1 3/4 miles in light snow, ceiling overcast at 1,800 feet, temperature minus 8 degrees C, dew point temperature minus 13 degrees C, and altimeter setting 30.21 inches of Hg. Remarks included hourly precipitation less than 0.01 inch.

A review of the observations indicated that snow first began at Chatham at 0645 EST and continued through the time of the accident with a few periods of brief instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions in a few heavier snow showers.

The next closest weather reporting facility to the accident site was from Barnstate Municipal Airport – Boardman/Polando Field (HYA), Hyannis, Massachusetts, which was the destination of where the practice instrument approach was planned and was located approximately 10 miles southwest of the accident site at an elevation of 54 feet.

The HYA weather observation at 0956 included wind from 310 degrees at 14 knots gusting to 20 knots, visibility 1 1/2 miles in light snow, ceiling overcast at 1,900 feet, temperature minus 11 degrees C, dew point temperature minus 15 degrees C, and altimeter setting 30.21 inches of Hg. Remarks included that snow began at 0913 EST, hourly precipitation less than 0.01 of an inch, and 6-hour precipitation less than 0.01 of an inch.

The HYA weather observation at 1056 included wind from 320 degrees at 12 knots gusting to 21 knots, visibility 1 mile in light snow, ceiling broken at 1,700 feet, overcast at 2,600 feet, temperature minus 11 degrees C, dew point temperature minus 14° C, and altimeter setting 30.21 inches of Hg. Remarks included hourly precipitation less than 0.01 of an inch.

A review of the raw observations indicated that snow first started at HYA at 0913 and continued through the time of the accident.

The accident airplane departed from Martha’s Vineyard Airport (MVY), Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, located approximately 32 miles southwest from the accident site at an elevation of 67 feet. The MVY weather observation at 0853 included wind from 340 degrees at 12 knots gusting to 19 knots, visibility 10 miles, sky clear below 12,000 feet, temperature minus 9 degrees C, dew point minus 17 degrees C, and altimeter 30.21 inches of Hg.

The closest upper air sounding or rawinsonde (ROAB) observation was from the National Weather Service (NWS) site number 74494, located at Chatham, Massachusetts, about 8 miles southeast of the accident site. The 0700 sounding indicated a layer of low stratocumulus type clouds with bases near 1,800 feet agl with tops near 4,300 feet. The entire sounding was below freezing, even with two low-level temperature inversions. The soundings supported a chance of light to moderate icing in the stratocumulus type clouds, with the highest probability near the cloud bases.

Two pilot reports in the vicinity reported light to moderate turbulence below 4,000 feet.

Immediately prior to the accident, at 0945, the NWS Aviation Weather Center (AWC) issued their series of Airmen’s Meteorological Information (AIRMET) for the northeast and the hourly Convective Significant Meteorological Information (SIGMET) advisories. The only weather hazard identified over the area was a threat of turbulence below 8,000 feet. No large scale areas of IFR or icing conditions were identified by the NWS outside of convective activity at that time, and no Convective SIGMETs were issued for the area surrounding the period.

The NWS Current Icing Product was issued by the AWC at 1000 on the day of the accident. The chart depicted a greater than 50 percent probability of icing conditions at 2,000 feet over eastern Cape Cod and over the accident site.

WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION

The wreckage was found submerged in Cape Cod Bay, at coordinates 41 ...