FTW97FA181 · Cessna 172RG

Outbound on a fish spotting flight (flt), the pilot (plt) made a distress call to other company plts that he did not feel well & was returning to the airport. He said he was getting sick & 'a little nauseated.' Radio contact was lost, & the airplane crashed in the Gulf of Mexico. Investigation revealed that before flt, the plt had breakfast, flew 4 hrs, attended a safety meeting & went to a health club. Company plts said he was upset from reprimands at the safety meeting, was stressed for monetary reasons, was worried about his job, & was concerned about his blood pressure, but would fly while fatigued or when not feeling well. Reportedly, he had not slept well the previous night. Following a partial workout & steam room session, he was seen holding his head in his hands outside the steam room; he said he stayed in the steam room too long & felt 'quizzy like was going to throw up, like over doing it.' He did not eat lunch, but rested before flt. The plt was noted to have high blood pressure, when he applied for a 2nd class medical certificate on 3/3/97. The certificate was issued after he was evaluated by a cardiologist & was prescribed Tenormin (atenolol) & Lipitor (atorvastatin). Tenormin is a medication that reduces resting & exercise heart rate & is acceptable to the FAA for control of blood pressure. Lipitor is a cholesterol-lowering agent. Toxicology testing revealed trace amounts of diphenhydramine (trade name Benadryl), an over-the-counter sedating antihistamine, in the plt's liver & kidney fluids.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset