The Young Eagles flight departed from Mustang Beach Airport (KRAS) in Port Aransas, Texas.
The Young Eagles volunteer pilots were provided with a suggested flightpath for Runway 30 departures. The procedure called for a right turn at 500 feet after takeoff and to fly along the Corpus Christi ship channel until reaching the municipal harbor. The procedure then called for a left turn toward a lighthouse then a right turn to fly along the beach southbound. The procedure finally called for two right turns to enter back into a right downwind traffic patter to Runway 30.
On the morning of the accident, the pilot flew the Cirrus SR22 to KRAS. About 20 minutes after arriving at the airport, he flew his first Young Eagles flight of the day. According to a witness and air traffic information, the pilot made three approaches to Runway 12 before finally landing.
During the second flight of the day, the pilot took a child and the child’s father for their discovery flight. The child sat in the aft right seat, and the father was seated in the front right seat.
The flight departed Runway 30. However, the airplane’s flight track did not follow the suggested route for the event for reasons that could not be determined.
Witnesses stated that the airplane was “low and slow” on the approach to Runway 30, and the airplane almost touched down short of the runway.
Before landing, the pilot appeared to initiate a go-around. The engine power increased, the airplane’s nose pitched up sharply, the left wing dropped, the engine power decreased, and the airplane hit the ground inverted in a nose low angle in front of a row of hangars adjacent to the runway. After ground impact, the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System deployed.
The airplane was destroyed in the crash, while the pilot was killed and the two passengers sustained serious injuries.
A cell phone video recorded by the front-seat passenger captured the accident flight and crash. About eight seconds before the impact, the video showed the flap selector switch in the UP (0%) position. About five seconds before the impact, the video and audio captured an increase in engine rpm, followed by a left roll, an immediate decrease in engine rpm, and terrain impact in a left-wing low attitude.
According to the pilot’s logbook, he began his flight training on July 7, 2018, and received his private pilot certificate on March 8, 2019. Most of his flight training was conducted in a Cessna C-172. His last month of training and practical exam (12.8 hours total) were completed in a Piper PA-28. Upon completion of his private certification, the pilot had a total of 99.8 hours of flight time.
He started to fly the Cirrus three days after he received his private pilot certificate and had a total of 72.5 hours in it as of March 6, 2021.
The pilot received flight training in the Cirrus between Nov. 16, 2019, and Dec. 15, 2019, logging 17.3 hours of dual instruction and 19 hours of ground instruction.
The initial impact point was located about 80 feet left of the runway centerline, and the main wreckage came to rest about 90 feet west of the initial impact. Fragmented fiberglass fuselage components and the nose wheel were located between the initial impact and main wreckage.
The main wreckage comprised the engine, cockpit/cabin, both wings, and the empennage. The upper cockpit and cabin structure was destroyed by impact and rescue efforts. The CAPS parachute canopy and suspension lines were deployed and came to rest on the ground adjacent to the main wreckage. The CAPS activation T-handle was found stowed in its receptacle. The outboard left- and right-wing leading edges were crushed aft and wing skin was partially delaminated.
Flight control continuity was established from all flight control surfaces to their respective cockpit controls. The wing flap actuator position was consistent with the flaps in the retracted position.
The Avidyne primary flight display (PFD) and multifunction display (MFD) units were recovered and sent to the National Transportation Safety Board Vehicle Recorders laboratory for data extraction.
The data downloaded from the PFD showed that just prior to the accident, the airplane’s nose pitched to about 22°, as the airplane rolled to the left and then descended rapidly with a pitch of 30° nose down. The airspeed at the time the data ended was 71 knots. The left roll continued until the data ended.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed during the go-around, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and a subsequent aerodynamic stall.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This April 2021 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.
Who is going to pay the medical bills for the passengers?
To me the pilot/owner would have been better off buying a new build Cessna 172 instead of that new Cirrus. Something he had trained in and was familiar with. The new build Cessna 172s have a decent set of avionics, so he wouldn’t be really deprived in that area compared to the Cirrus. Sad that his eagerness for new fancy GA aircraft design probably led him to not really know what he was doing.
I agree that a mix of low time and a high performance airplane is a bad choice for a Young Eagles pilot. I realize we are flying someone’s special treasure and worry accordingly.
Maybe it time that the “EAA” require more “PIC” time for any and all pilots who wish to join “YE” in any aircraft that will be used for such flights. Just because this young pilot had a private pilots license
does not mean he was proficient in handling the SR22. He had less than 20hrs in “pic” of his aircraft. And my way of thinking he should “not” have been able to be a “YE” team member. Having other persons in any aircraft that the “pic” is not sufficient in handling it, is just plain “stupid” and dangerous for the “pic” and innocent passengers. Don’t let your “ego ruin your butt”, it never ends well !
Thanks. Vietnam Vet/ & current airframe mech.
FYI, the guy was 76 years old…..not young, just very little experience and PIC time.
Sympathy to the pilot’s family, and a rapid recovery to the father and child.
Our chapter requires a minimum of 250 PIC to be a YE pilot. The chapter YE coordinator checks anyone interested in being a YE pilot. Candidly, someone in the chapter usually has personal knowledge of anyone interested in being YE pilots. We start them on ground ops so they can see what’s involved. Yes, we’re paranoid and for good reason.
Not paranoid, just blessed with a good share of common sense.
This old guy should have gone back to the PA-28, since it looks like he couldn’t handle the high performance of the SR22. !
He had 17 hours of transition training. Does that indicate that he had difficulty handing the SR22 ?
I had thought that there was a PIC minimum for YE pilots, but I couldn’t find any PIC time requirement on the EAA pages.
So, it is up to the EAA chapter to screen YE pilots ?
I fly YE in my C175 at 2 of our local EAA chapters. We have not had any issues with pilot performance, but we know all of the pilots and all have substantial PIC time in their aircraft.
AQP anyone? Pilot is low and slow with no flaps in an unstable approach. Finally realizing the situation, crams the throttle, pulls on the yoke, and torques over into the stall. Lesson to be learned: Be careful, Young Eagles, of the fledgling pilot with a high-powered machine. Maybe the Young Eagles Program needs some experience minimums and checkouts before allowing the unsuspecting to take a seat. All the EAA requires is a pilot’s license:
From the EAA:
“The pilots participating in the Young Eagles program are local members of EAA who are volunteering their time and aircraft to make your child’s flight possible. Each pilot is certificated by the FAA (or governing organization outside the U.S., such as Transport Canada) and all aircraft are likewise licensed by the government. Additionally, each pilot is required to complete EAA’s Youth Protection Training and background check program. The flights are conducted according to federal regulations. No aerobatic maneuvers are performed.”
https://www.eaa.org/eaa/youth/free-ye-flights/eaa-young-eagles-information-for-parents
The “Youth Protection Training…” is to keep kids more safe from predation. It has nothing to do with pilots endangering kids due to incompetence.
Decades ago there was an Alfred Hitchcock episode titled “Kid at the stick.” It depicted a heroic effort of a young boy bringing in his little plane with help from radio instructions after his father had a heart attack. In this case we have a tragic loss caused by a ‘kid’ pilot with woefully inadequate experience driving a flying machine and the gullibility of his family taking a joyride with him. RIP pilot. May those injured recover from their injuries. You can pass all the laws you like but you can’t prevent incautious human behavior.
/J
Except it was someone else’s family that took the ride. Complete strangers killed by someone else’s “kid”.
Nobody died in the crash except the pilot. However, the YE and his father sustained serious injuries. I knew the pilot. He was one of our civilian contractor avionics tech at the Customs and Border Protection facility i flew at. He retired and wanted to fly. I heard he got his license and bought a Cirrus. As a CFI I thought that was too much airplane for him at his experience level. I wonder what his insurance company told him?