Last updated: 9 December 2019
| Status: | Preliminary - official |
| Date: | Friday 24 May 2019 |
| Time: | 17:55 |
| Type: |  Cessna 560 Citation Encore |
| Operator: | private |
| Registration: | N832R |
| C/n / msn: | 560-0585 |
| First flight: | 2001 |
| Engines: | 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5D |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Damaged beyond repair |
| Location: | 500 km (312.5 mls) E off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA ( Atlantic Ocean)
|
| Phase: | En route (ENR) |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | St. Louis Regional Airport, IL (ALN/KALN), United States of America |
| Fort Lauderdale-Executive Airport, FL (FXE/KFXE), United States of America |
A Cessna 560 Citation Encore ditched into the Atlantic Ocean about 300 miles east of Fort Lauderdale. The pilot was not found and presumed fatally injured.
According to the owner of the airplane, he purchased the airplane two days prior to the accident. The airplane had recently undergone a progressive inspection, which was completed on May 22, 2019. The owner then hired a contract pilot to fly the airplane to Fort Lauderdale-Executive Airport (FXE) to have some avionics work done.
The aircraft departed St. Louis Regional Airport, Illinois, USA at 18:36 UTC (13:36 local time) on the flight to FXE. The aircraft climbed to the cruising altitude of FL390.
The pilot established communications with the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and reported he was level at FL390, and that the air was smooth. Later, the air traffic controller tried to communicate with the pilot to tell him to contact the Jacksonville ARTCC, but the controller was unable to make contact with the pilot. The controller made several attempts to contact the pilot on different radio frequencies, to no avail. The controller then advised Jacksonville ARTCC that communications with the flight had been lost. The Jacksonville controllers then continued to monitor the flight via radar. The flight transitioned through Jacksonville and Miami ARTCC airspace without any radio contact.
The US Air Force dispatched two Homestead AFRES F-15 aircraft to intercept the accident airplane. One of the interceptor pilots reported that he could see the pilot unconscious and slumped over the controls. The intercept airplanes followed the accident airplane until it descended and impacted the Atlantic Ocean about 310 miles east of FXE.
The US Coast Guard initiated a search after the accident, which was suspended on May 25, 2019. The pilot and the airplane were not recovered.
Accident investigation:
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Sources:
» nytimes.com» miami.cbslocal.com
» NTSB Preliminary Report
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line is connecting ADS-B datapoints from FlightAware.
Distance from St. Louis Regional Airport, IL to Fort Lauderdale-Executive Airport, FL as the crow flies is 1674 km (1046 miles).
Accident location: Global; accuracy within tens or hundreds of kilometers.
Distance from St. Louis Regional Airport, IL to Fort Lauderdale-Executive Airport, FL as the crow flies is 1674 km (1046 miles).
Accident location: Global; accuracy within tens or hundreds of kilometers.
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
