ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 153180
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| Date: | Friday 8 February 2013 |
| Time: | 09:30 |
| Type: |  Cessna 152 |
| Owner/operator: | Arizona Aero-Tech |
| Registration: | N89059 |
| MSN: | 15282614 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1979 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 8037 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming O-235 SERIES |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | West of Ryan Field Airport - KRYN, Tucson, AZ -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Standing |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Tucson, AZ (TUS) |
| Tucson, AZ (RYN) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot rented the airplane from the fixed-base operator (FBO) to fly to an airport about 11 miles away to practice takeoff and landings. He spoke briefly with two people in the FBO office and then went out to the airplane to preflight it and have it fueled. Review of the departure airport air traffic control tower (ATCT) communications and air traffic control radar tracking data did not reveal any abnormalities with the departure or flight. About 7 minutes after departure, the pilot contacted the ATCT at his destination airport and advised the controller that he was planning to do three touch-and-go maneuvers. Per instructions from the controller, the pilot entered a right downwind for his assigned landing runway. When the airplane was near a location consistent with it being established on the base leg, several motorists observed it in a steep nose-down attitude and descending rapidly. The airplane impacted flat terrain about 1.5 miles from the airport. Neither of the two ATCT controllers observed the descent or impact. Examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any preimpact anomalies that would have precluded continued engine operation or flight.
The pilot had obtained his first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) medical certificate about 10 years before the accident, received annual recertification, and his most recent medical certificate was issued about 13 months before the accident. Review of the pilot’s FAA medical records indicated that, for the intervening 9 years, the pilot was being treated for multiple cardiac issues and was subject to repetitive specialized medical testing. Further review indicated that the pilot had slow, essentially asymptomatic, progression of at least two components of his cardiac disease that are both independently associated with a significantly increased risk of sudden cardiac death as a result of a sudden arrhythmia. Although autopsy results indicated that the cause of death was blunt trauma, it is likely that a complication of the pilot’s cardiac disease caused him to become incapacitated, which resulted in his loss of control of the airplane and the subsequent crash. The 0707 code found on the transponder was likely an artifact of the pilot’s attempt to switch to the 7700 emergency code to indicate a problem to the controllers, but neither the timing nor the underlying reason for that action could be determined.
Probable Cause: The pilot's incapacitation due to his preexisting cardiac disease, which resulted in his degraded or complete loss of ability to control the airplane.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
FAA register: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=89059
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 8 June 1988 | N89059 | Central Air Flt. Training,inc. | 0 | East Liverpool, OH | |
sub |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 08-Feb-2013 20:18 | Geno | Added |
| 29-Oct-2015 21:32 | El_serj | Updated [Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 28-Nov-2017 14:08 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 03-Jul-2022 18:25 | rvargast17 | Updated [Source, Damage] |
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