N36402

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn December 19, 2015, at 1556 Pacific standard time, a Piper PA-32RT-300T airplane, N36402, experienced an in-flight breakup near Bakersfield, California. The pilot, his wife, and their three children sustained fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed. The airplane was registered to RAD Aviation LLC and operated by the private pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 cross-country personal flight. Marginal visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the weather reporting station closest to the accident location, and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was activated by the pilot during the flight. The flight departed Reid-Hillview Airport, Santa Clara County, San Jose, California, at 1435, with a planned destination of Henderson Executive Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The pilot and his family were travelling for vacation and were due to attend a surprise party in the Henderson area that night.

Radar tracking and audio communications information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that, after departing San Jose, the airplane initiated a climb to the southeast. The pilot requested and received visual flight rules (VFR) flight-following services. During the initial climb, a controller from NorCal Approach provided the pilot with traffic advisories, and the pilot reported that he would like to climb to 15,500 ft mean sea level (msl) to stay above clouds.

As the flight progressed, the approach controller began issuing advisories and vectors to aircraft in the San Jose area for an approaching 10- to 15-mile-wide band of moderate-to-heavy precipitation. At 1502, the pilot contacted Oakland Center, and the airplane began to track south, leveling off at a radar-indicated altitude of 15,500 ft. Ten minutes later, the airplane began an unannounced and unrequested climb. At the same time, a westbound commercial flight (SkyWest 2955) was about 4 miles to the east and descending through an altitude of 17,700 ft for a landing approach to Monterey Regional Airport. The controller received a conflict alert, and the SkyWest crew reported that they were initiating a climb because their traffic collision avoidance system had issued a resolution advisory. The controller advised the accident pilot of the traffic conflict, requested that he maintain VFR, and asked if he was climbing. The pilot reported that he was "going to climb over the top of this (unreadable)" and reported that he would level off at 16,500 ft.

At 1516, the pilot requested a climb to 17,500 ft and a direct route to Paso Robles, California. The airplane then abruptly turned east, and 5 minutes later, it began an arcing right turn to the south toward Paso Robles. About that time, the controller issued an advisory to VFR traffic for moderate-to-heavy precipitation south of the Panoche VOR, which was about 40 miles north of the accident airplane. At 1524, after having reached Paso Robles, the airplane began to turn east, and the pilot reported that he was turning toward Bakersfield, California. The airplane was then transferred to the control of Los Angeles Center. The airplane continued toward Bakersfield, and at 1537, when it was about 55 miles west-northwest of Bakersfield, the controller relayed, "moderate precipitation from one to two o'clock to your 9 o'clock position, first group of cells begins in about 5 miles, and then there is a secondary line from north to south that begins in about two zero miles and extends one five miles."

The pilot reported that he could see the clouds and would be watching them. Three minutes later, he reported that he would be descending to 15,500 ft, and shortly thereafter, the pilot of a Cessna 414 reported that he was over the Shafter VOR and that the cloud tops were at 18,000 ft. The accident pilot asked for clarification of the Cessna's location, and the controller advised it was 30 miles to the east. The pilot responded, "Roger, just wondering when I can get over to their altitude and clear the clouds." The controller again alerted the pilot to areas of moderate-to-heavy precipitation along his flight route, and the pilot asked if the controller knew how high the bottoms of the clouds were; the controller responded that he did not have that information but that he was aware of light rime icing up to 19,000 ft to the southeast. The pilot responded, "Ok, we're going to deviate to the south and try and go through Barstow." Another airplane pilot then reported cloud tops in the Palmdale area of about 21,000 ft, and the controller repeated this information to the accident pilot, advising that it was in the direction he was heading. The pilot responded, and the controller then provided another weather update, which indicated areas of moderate precipitation at the pilot's 11- to 2-o'clock positions.

About 1550, the controller asked the pilot if he would like to file an IFR clearance to Henderson. The pilot responded that he would, requesting an altitude of 15,000 ft. About 90 seconds later, the airplane began a 90° left turn to the northeast toward Bakersfield as the controller advised he was ready with the IFR clearance. The controller provided the clearance, and the pilot read it back. The controller then asked the pilot if he was turning northbound, and the pilot stated, "Roger, I just took a heading off of Bakersfield and I'm going to change it to the current assigned IFR."

The controller then issued a heading change 10° to the right to a Piper PA46R-350T airplane which was approaching the accident airplane at the same altitude of 15,000 ft. About 45 seconds later, the controller asked the accident pilot to fly a heading of 095°. The pilot responded to the heading request; however, rather than turning right, the airplane continued the same northeast heading and then began a climbing left turn to about 350°, reaching an altitude of 15,600 ft 40 seconds later. The controller then asked the pilot to make an "immediate right turn to 095," followed by a directive to the Piper PA46R pilot to descend to 14,000 ft. By this time, the accident airplane had descended to 13,800 ft and was travelling eastbound. A few seconds later, the pilot transmitted, "air traffic control Lance 402 mayday mayday mayday," followed 20 seconds later by another mayday call. The controller provided the pilot vectors to Bakersfield; however, no response was received. Ten seconds later, at 1556:10, the last radar target was recorded, and it indicated that the airplane was at an altitude of 11,200 ft. The controller asked multiple aircraft in the vicinity if they could see or contact the accident airplane; however, they were unable to do so, and the Piper PA-46R pilot reported that the area was enveloped in clouds.

Subsequently, an alert notice was issued for the airplane, and the wreckage was located by ground patrol units of the Kern County Sheriff's Department at 1924. Low visibility and cloud ceilings prevented the department's Air Support Unit from deploying helicopters for the search operation.

The airplane had fragmented in flight and most of its components came to rest in an almond orchard, directly below the last radar target, about 9 miles southwest of Bakersfield.

Route of Flight Including Intended Destination PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe pilot held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating, which was issued in July 2012. He did not hold an instrument rating. The pilot held a third-class FAA medical certificate, which was issued on May 16, 2012. The certificate had no limitations or waivers and was valid until May 31, 2017.

Review of the pilot's flight logbook revealed a total flight experience of 269.5 hours as of December 9, 2015. He documented 3.1 hours of simulated instrument time as part of his training for the private pilot certificate in 2012 and 0.8 hour of flight experience in actual instrument conditions during two IFR training flights in February 2014; these two flights were his only documented actual IFR experience. He completed a flight review in July 2014 and received 2.8 hours of dual instruction on January 30, 2015, which included two instrument approaches. He had 28.3 hours of experience flying at night.

Most of his initial flight training had been conducted in a Cessna 172. He continued to fly the Cessna along with a Diamond DA-40 and a Piper PA-28R-200 throughout the 10 months following his private pilot checkride, during which time he received complex and high-performance airplane endorsements. In April 2013, he purchased a PA-28-236, which he flew exclusively for the next 2 years, accruing 85 hours of flight time. He flew five flights from the San Jose area to Henderson during that period.

He began flying the accident airplane 6 months before the accident, logging 26 flights and a total of 56.5 flight hours during that time. The accident flight was the first time he had flown the airplane to Henderson, and there were no logbook entries indicating he had received formal flight instruction in the accident airplane or model (FAA regulations did not require that he receive such flight training). AIRCRAFT INFORMATIONThe airplane was owned by RAD Aviation LLC, a corporation comprising a group of individual co-owners. The accident pilot was not part of the group, but he had been given permission to fly the airplane and had been added to the group's insurance policy.

The single-engine "T-tail" airplane was manufactured in 1978 and was equipped with conventional vacuum and electrically driven gyroscopic instruments for flight in IFR conditions. The airplane was powered by a turbocharged, Lycoming TIO-540-S1AD engine, serial number L-5380-61A. At the time of the accident, the airplane had accrued a total flight time of 3,840.38 hours.

An annual inspection along with an altimeter, transponder, and static system test and a standby vacuum system check were completed on April 18, 2015, about 111 flight hours before the accident. T...