ERA24FA036 · Piper PA-28-180

The non-instrument-rated private pilot was performing a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country flight. ADS-B data revealed that when the pilot was about 20 nautical miles (nm) from his intended destination, the airplane began to fly erratically, with several 360° turns and multiple climbs and descents. During this time, the pilot contacted ATC, declared an emergency, and reported that he was “lost in weather.” The controller began to provide the pilot with radar vectors out of the weather and informed the pilot when he began to deviate in altitude or heading, to assist the pilot with maintaining control of the airplane. During these communications, the pilot reported that his vacuum-driven attitude indicator and his electrically driven turn and bank indicator had failed. The pilot reiterated that he couldn’t see anything and reported that he thought he was “upside down.” In the final minutes of flight, the airplane made two tight, left 360° turns with a steep descent in excess of 5,000 ft per minute. The last ADSB data point was about 650 ft from the wreckage location. Before departure, the ground controller at the departure airport reported that the weather conditions were “IFR” and indicated the ceiling was broken clouds at 800 ft above ground level (agl). About 1 minute later, the controller stated there were updated weather conditions, which were few clouds at 800 ft agl, then issued a taxi clearance to the pilot. VFR, marginal VFR (MVFR), and instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions were present along the pilot’s route of flight, with areas of low cloud coverage and low visibility due to rain. The closest weather reporting station to the accident location reported IFR conditions just before the accident with 2 miles visibility, rain and mist, and a broken cloud layer at 1,800 ft agl. A high-resolution atmospheric model for the accident site indicated stratus clouds with bases about 600 ft agl and an overcast cloud layer at 1,000 ft agl with tops near 16,200 ft. Aviation weather forecasts issued near the time of departure depicted general MVFR conditions along the route of flight, and a graphical AIRMET for IFR conditions was active for a portion of the route. There was no record that the pilot received a weather briefing prior to departing on the flight, which would have alerted him to the forecast inclement weather along his planned route of flight. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of any preimpact anomalies or mechanical failures that would have precluded normal operation. The attitude indicator and the turn and bank indicator were examined; both instruments displayed rotational scoring on their gyroscopes, indicating that the gyroscopes were spinning at the time of impact. However, during a pre-buy inspection performed a few months before the accident, a mechanic determined that the attitude indicator was inoperative. The investigation was unable to determine the nature of the malfunction, but there was no evidence that the attitude indicator had been subsequently repaired or replaced. The detection of carboxy-delta-9-THC in samples of the pilot’s blood indicated that the pilot had used a cannabis product. However, the fact that no delta-9-THC was detected, and that carboxy-delta-9-THC was not detected in liver tissue, indicated that the time between the pilot’s last cannabis use and the accident likely was long enough that he was not experiencing acute psychoactive effects of cannabis at the time of the accident. In summary, it is likely that as the pilot neared the destination airport, the airplane entered a cloud layer, resulting in the pilot losing outside visual reference to his surroundings. As such, the pilot likely became spatially disoriented and subsequently lost control of the airplane.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset