CHI06FA057 · Piper PA-28-180

The airplane, piloted by a non-instrument rated private pilot, was destroyed on impact with terrain after takeoff. A witness stated, "I spoke with the waitress on duty [Wednesday December] 28, 2005. She informed me that [the pilot] ordered 2 Crown Royal whiskey and diet Cokes between the hours of 7:30 PM and 9:30 P.M. After 9:30 he only ordered diet Coke." At 2355, recorded radar returns showed an airplane with an encoding transponder on a standard Visual Flight Rules (VFR) 1200 beacon code, about one-half nautical mile (NM) southeast of the departure airport's runway 12 at pressure altitude of 1,400 feet. The location of the first return was consistent with a departure from runway 12. The flight's radar returns indicated that the airplane was in a climbing right turn. The flight's climbing right turn crossed its departure path from runway 12. The flight climbed to a maximum pressure altitude of 2,200 feet, which was followed by a descending right turn. The last recorded return was at 2357 about one and one-half NM southeast of the departure airport at pressure altitude of 1,800 feet. That target disappeared from radar after 2357. No pre-impact anomalies were detected with the airframe or engine. A Final Forensic Toxicology Accident Report on the pilot stated: "47 (mg/dL, mg/hg) ETHANOL detected in Liver; 43 (mg/dL, mg/hg) ETHANOL detected in Muscle." Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation part 91.17 Alcohol or drugs, in part, stated, "(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft - (1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage; (2) While under the influence of alcohol; ... (b) Except in an emergency, no pilot of a civil aircraft may allow a person who appears to be intoxicated or who demonstrates by manner or physical indications that the individual is under the influence of drugs (except a medical patient under proper care) to be carried in that aircraft." The pilot had noted on his last application for airman medical certificate almost a year prior to the accident that he was experiencing anxiety due to a divorce and was using alprazolam (a prescription anti-anxiety medication) as needed, bupropion (a prescription antidepressant), and chlorpheniramine (an over-the-counter sedating antihistamine) seasonally. The FAA's Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners notes that ... "any airman who is undergoing continuous treatment with ... anxiolytics, ... moodameliorating, ... sedating antihistaminic ... drugs ... must be deferred certification unless the treatment has previously been cleared by FAA medical authority." However, the pilot was issued a medical certificate. That issuance was not in compliance with this guidance. The FAA does not appear to have detected or corrected the error.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset