The 79-year-old private pilot was making a local personal flight in his Piper PA 28-236 when he reported over the aircraft emergency frequency that he was losing vision in one of his eyes.
About the same time, a radar target using the emergency transponder squawk code was acquired traveling northbound along the coastline.
The airplane wreckage was located on a beach close to the last radar target in Port Orford, Oregon.
The damage to the airplane was consistent with a high-speed, left wing-low impact due to a loss of control. The pilot died in the crash.
According to the pilot’s son, the pilot had been diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivities and had a history of sudden vision loss, sometimes in just one eye but at other times in both eyes, which had been attributed to his chemical sensitivity.
He had not reported the episodes of vision loss or the chemical sensitivity on any of his FAA medical applications. His most recent FAA medical certificate had expired five years before the accident, and it had been five years since he had accomplished a flight review.
The pilot continued to fly, and his flight instructor, who had given the pilot his last flight review and flew with him one year before the accident, reported a significant degradation in the pilot’s flying skills.
Probable cause: The pilot’s loss of vision during cruise flight, which resulted in a loss of aircraft control. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s decision to fly with a known medical condition.
NTSB Identification: WPR17FA052
This January 2017 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I intend to keep flying until the very end because there is simply no better feeling than that of flying though the air on a sunny day.
And when the day comes when I can no longer do it safely on my own, I will be sure to have a competent pilot sitting next to me whenever I go flying – and with a clear understanding of who is really in charge.
If this pilot had taken a pilot-friend along he would still be alive to enjoy another flight. What a shame.
“The pilot continued to fly, and his flight instructor, who had given the pilot his last flight review and flew with him one year before the accident, reported a significant degradation in the pilot’s flying skills.”
If the CFI felt he was degraded, why didn’t he call the FAA and suggest a competency check ride?
I certainly sympathize with his family. A great loss. I also would like to understand his medical condition better. I’m not a physician. But I find the explanation of his sudden blindness curious. Also, he had flown with an instructor a year before yet he hadn’t had a flight review in 5 years. If I read it right. I tried to picture what I would do under these circumstances. A beach might be an appropriate landing area to protect the public but it would need to be vacant. I think I would set it on the water, if I could still see from the good eye. But, a high speed crash wouldn’t seem like an appropriate way to attempt any landing. Throttle back and keep the speed near stall till touch down. Just thinking. I would like to hear what anyone can add to the conversation.
I looked up sudden vision loss on the internet. Very interesting. Also chemical sinsitivity. MCS ( Wikipedia) Multiple Chemical Sinsitivity, and diabetes stand out along with macular degeneration. All can result in depression and some can lead to dizziness as well. At 79, MD is a probability and could associate with MCS and depression. Age related MD struck my wife at age 65. It is a common malady. There are treatments but no cures that I’m aware of. My MIL still insists she can drive a car at 94 too! This accident points out the need for intervention. Enough people knew the dangers yet it appears no one took steps to prevent the resulting accident. I hope I will have the sharp enough brain at 79 to know when to stop flying but I also hope that my friends will be willing to step in if I don’t.
Once again we have someone breaking the rules and giving aviation a bad name.
Stupidity, and apparent arrogance, causes needless grief for his family. The aviation community suffers from this type of behavior in the public’seyes, and fuels the belief of those who question Basic Med.
You have to feel for the family in this, and hope that this type of article might just cause others to think twice before acting so recklessly.
Amen Steve. You said it all. I am just grateful that he didn’t create injury and or loss of life to people on the ground. I’m sure if this was the case that it would really open up a can of worms and bring to light the honor system of maintaining a current medical including basic med. That being said, a piece of paper (medical certificate) still does not stop a person’s ability to fly a plane and make a bad decision. He would have made the flight with or without that piece of paper. Shades of gun control. This all boils down to common sense and more so, his son’s and family’s poor judgment in not putting prop locks on the airplane and pulling the starter battery to prevent him from flying after knowing well in advance that he had a vision problem. All that being said, may he rest in peace. I hate to see a fellow pilot pass for whatever reason.
There is no mention that the pilot had undergone BasicMed qualification. If he had, and if he had been truthful in his application about his history of vision loss, he would have been denied qualification under BasicMed. If he had been willing to lie he would also have qualified for a Class III FAA medical.