N2428Q

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 18, 2014, about 1635 central daylight time, a Piper PA 46-310P airplane, N2428Q, crashed in an open field ½ mile east of Lehman, Texas. The private pilot and two passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to Flying Lazy T, LLC., and operated by a private individual under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as a personal flight. Both visual and instrument meteorological conditions existed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The cross country flight originated from Aspen-Pitkin County Airport/Sardy Field (KASE), Aspen, Colorado, at 1326 mountain daylight time, and was en route to Brenham Municipal Airport (11R), Brenham, Texas.

At 1517 central daylight time, N2428Q checked in with the Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZAB) controller at Flight Level (FL) 270. Between 1523 and 1526 N2428Q's altitude indicated 300 feet to 400 feet higher than the assigned altitude of FL270 four times. At 1530, the ZAB controller issued a Fort Worth Center Weather Advisory (CWA). Five minutes later, the controller transferred control of N2428Q to the next ZAB controller. N2428Q checked in with that controller at FL270.

At 1549, the controller issued convective SIGMET (Significant Meteorological Information) 86C for Texas. Between 1552 and 1607, N2428Q's altitude indicated 300 feet to 400 feet above and 400 feet below the assigned altitude of FL270 eight times. After each altitude deviation, N2428Q leveled at FL270. At 1554, after the second altitude deviation, the controller queried the pilot about the altitude changes. N2428Q reported that they were having autopilot issues. At 1556, during the altitude deviations, N2428Q requested and was authorized to deviate to the east of course for weather avoidance, but then deviated to the west.

About this time, a flight of two F/A-18s, call sign Cowboy 31, passed below N2428Q's flight track from west to east at FL250 and, according to the flight lead, encountered moderate clear icing and requested and were approved to descend to FL190.

At 1607 the ZAB controller transferred N2428Q to the next ZAB controller and from 1608 to 1617 N2428Q's altitude indicated 400 feet to 1,000 feet below the assigned altitude of FL270 three times. At 1615 the controller transferred N2428Q to the Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control (ZFW) controller.

At 1617, N2428Q checked in with the ZFW controller at FL260 climbing to FL270 and advised the controller that he was in a turn for weather avoidance.

At 1630, N2428Q started a left turn and a climb. The ZFW controller asked N2428Q if he was going north for weather. The pilot responded that he "was trying to go through a window." As the pilot continued his climb out of FL270, the controller asked the pilot if he needed a higher altitude of FL290. The pilot did not respond. The controller then advised N2428Q that radar showed that he was in the middle of moderate to extreme precipitation and asked the pilot if he needed a different altitude. The pilot did not respond. Thirty seconds later the controller again tried to establish communications with N2428Q without success. This was followed immediately by a single "mayday" transmission on the frequency. At 1632 the controller asked N2428Q to say altitude and the pilot responded with "nineteen."

There were several aircraft on the frequency in the vicinity of N2428Q. N656FP, an Eclipse jet en route from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Shreveport, Louisiana, was at FL410. The pilot of N656FP heard the situation developing on the frequency and, after the mayday call, asked the ZFW controller if they had heard it. The ZFW controller acknowledged with "N28Q, go ahead" after which someone on the frequency stated "oh, they just called a mayday to you." American Airlines flight 1536, also in the area at the time, reported that they had also heard the mayday call. In the meantime, the controller continued to try to reestablish communication with N2428Q and asked Alaska Airlines flight 670 if they would try to contact N2428Q.

At 1635, N2428Q reported that he was spinning. N656FP, in an effort to assist, asked the pilot of N2428Q if he could see the ground or the horizon, but did not receive a response. The ZFW controller asked N2428Q if he could see the ground but did not get a response. A transmission from one of the pilots in the vicinity transmitted that the last call from N2428Q was that he was spinning and had said something about not being able to see the ground or horizon.

American Airlines flight 2394 advised the ZFW controller that they had also heard N2428Q report that he was spinning. In response to a query from the controller, the pilot of American Airlines flight 2461 stated that he had heard N2428Q's transmissions but the words were so short that it was unclear what was said. United Airlines flight 1604 volunteered that they had heard N2428Q say he was spinning and that he had lost sight of the ground or horizon.

At 1638, another attempt by the ZFW controller to reestablish communications with N2428Q was unsuccessful. (Additional details and figures are available in the Air Traffic Control Factual Report available in the public docket.)

The wreckage was located in an open field by the land owner.

According to a witness in the area at the time of the accident, there was a severe thunderstorm in the immediate vicinity of the accident. The witness described high winds, heavy rain, and low visibility. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe pilot, age 61, held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single engine land and instrument airplane ratings. His most recent third class airman medical certificate was issued on November 26, 2013. At that time, the pilot reported no chronic medical conditions and no medications. The certificate contained the limitation "Must wear lenses for distant, have glasses for near vision. Holder shall possess glasses for near/intermediate vision." At the time of medical certificate application, the pilot estimated his total time as 2,500 hours, 30 of which had been logged in the previous 6 months.

On August 3, 2006, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Notice of Proposed Certificate Action to the pilot due to a suspension of driving privileges in the state of Colorado in 2004. The pilot did not report this suspension on his medical certificate application and argued that he had refused a breath test. His lawyer had argued the driving under the influence case down to "driving while impaired" and the pilot stated that his driver's license had not been suspended or revoked. On June 18, 2007, the FAA issued an Order of Revocation, immediately revoking the pilot's third class medical certificate. It was re-issued six months later.

The pilot applied for and received his instrument airplane rating on March 31, 2008. At the time of application he reported 754.6 hours of cross-country time as pilot in command and 70 hours of simulated/actual instrument time. Prior to this application, he had previously applied for, and been disapproved for the same rating. The record did not indicate which areas were deficient but did state all areas of operation were to be retested.

One pilot logbook was located in the wreckage of the airplane. The logbook contained flight log entries dated between September 4, 2011, and January 5, 2014. No flights were logged between January 5, 2014, and the date of the accident. All of the flights contained in the flight log were conducted in the accident airplane.

The pilot noted in his logbook if he had flown an instrument approach and he would log his total flight time; however, his landings and his instrument flight times were not annotated for each flight. The pilot had carried over a total time of 2,241.8 hours on the last page of the flight log. The total flight time logged on the last page was 16.6 hours. The last instrument approach annotated in his logbook was on August 12, 2013 – a Localizer DME 15 approach into ASE. He also annotated an instrument checkride on March 15, 2012. There were no endorsements in the back of the logbook, nor did any of the entries contain notes indicating a flight review or instrument competency check had been completed. Investigators were unable to determine if the pilot met the flight review or currency requirements as outlined in 14 CFR Part 61.56 Flight Review and Part 61.57 Recent flight experience: Pilot in command. AIRCRAFT INFORMATIONThe accident airplane, a Piper PA 46-310P (serial number 46-8508088), was manufactured in 1985. It was registered with the FAA on a standard airworthiness certificate for normal operations. The airplane was originally certified by Piper with a Lycoming 350 horsepower reciprocating engine. A Pratt & Whitney PT6A-34 engine, with maximum continuous engine torque of 1,337 foot-pounds, powered the airplane at the time of the accident. The engine was equipped with a Hartzell (model HC-E4N-3I) 4-blade, variable pitch propeller.

The airplane was maintained under an annual inspection program. A review of the maintenance records indicated that an annual inspection had been completed on November 1, 2013, at an airframe total time of 4,735.5 hours (Hobbs 1,711.0 hours). The airplane had flown 64.4 hours between the last inspection and the accident and had a total airframe time of 4,799.9 hours.

The airplane had been equipped with the Supplemental Type Certificate ST00541SE in 1999. In the limitations section of the JetProp LLC Pilot Operating Handbook, flight above FL 270 was not approved. In addition, the altimeters in the airplane were only certified to 25,000 feet. METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATIONThe synoptic or large scale migratory weather systems influencing the accident area were documented using standard National Weather Service (NWS) charts issued by the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Weather Prediction ...