WPR10FA383 · Cirrus Design Corp SR22
Cirrus Design Corp SR22 · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
From Phoenix Deer Valley Airport (DVT) to TN
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR10FA383
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Cirrus Design Corp SR22
- Aircraft type
- Cirrus SR22
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N146CK
- Operator
- James R Freeman III · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Phoenix Deer Valley Airport (DVT), Phoenix, AZTo TN
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Shortly after takeoff, the pilot notified the tower air traffic controller that he needed to return to the airport to “close a door” on the airplane. The pilot acknowledged the landing clearance and declined further assistance. Review of recorded radar data revealed that after the airplane’s departure, it remained within the airport traffic pattern and ascended to an altitude of about 528 feet above ground level near the downwind-to-base leg of the flight. In addition, a pilot-rated witness located adjacent to the accident site reported observing the airplane depart and remain within a left traffic pattern for the runway. The witness stated that the airplane appeared to be traveling slowly as it began to initiate a left turn from the base leg to final approach before stalling and entering a spin to the left. Security camera images captured the accident airplane in a left-wing-low, nose-down attitude just before impact with the ground. In addition, the left cabin door was observed in an open position before impact. A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Witness reports and findings from the wreckage examination are consistent with a loss of control and subsequent aerodynamic stall and spin. It is likely that the pilot was distracted by the open door and failed to maintain sufficient airspeed while turning from the base leg to final approach and lost control of the airplane.
Review of the pilot’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) medical records showed that the pilot did not report any mental disorders, depression, or anxiety. However, the pilot’s personal medical records revealed that he had been treated for depression for several years, including several episodes of acute exacerbation. Postaccident toxicology testing found venlafaxine and nortriptyline (both used in the treatment of depression) in the postmortem cavity blood that exceed the toxic ranges for peripheral blood set by the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. However, substances undergo redistribution after death and these results are unlikely to be the result of toxic overdose.
Probable cause
The pilot‘s failure to maintain airspeed and airplane control during a turn from the base leg to final approach due to his diverted attention.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR10FA383
- Event ID
- 20100804X02630
- Case number
- WPR10FA383
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 3d70606dfee954b8903c588a7265f3dffabe95a4baa44b471d48b0d06794fa97; retrieved 2026-09-13T20:59:03.864Z.