N48DL Crash in Gulf (KASD to KSRQ)

[dave]

Small plane with unresponsive pilot crashes into Gulf of Mexico


Unresponsive Plane Crashes in Gulf of Mexico


LiveATC audio transcript of departure from KASD (Slidell Airport, Slidell, Louisiana)
(Note: This is the only available audio from current feeds)

6:41AM CDT (1141Z UTC)
N48DL checks in with New Orleans Approach and gets clearance after airborne from KASD and radar identified by ATC:

ATC: "Cleared to Sarasota via radar vectors REDFN Q100 KSRQ
Maintain 15,000 expect Flight Level 2-7-0 in 10 minutes, fly heading 1-7-0"

N48DL Filed route: SULDP REDFN Q100 SRQ HRV Q105 REDFN Q100

N48DL pilot reads back clearance correctly except for the initial portion, which ATC corrected and then N48DL read back correctly.

6:44 A.M. CDT (1144Z UTC)
N48DL cleared by ATC direct to REDFN (this is an airspace fix on the pilot's flight plan)
http://www.airnav.com/airspace/fix/REDFN

[AlexB892]

On the ZHU feed around 1242-1243Z you can hear some discussion of the incident.  "November 4 8 delta lima, how do you read Southwest 2691?" and a few seconds later "N48DL Contact Jax center 1 3 5 decimal 9 2".  You can't hear what Houston center says to Southwest, but the reply is "Southwest 2691 no answer from N48DL."

[bassplayer87]

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N48DL

The flight track looks rather interesting, maybe the pilot became disoriented?

[Fryy/Avocadoflight]

My guess would be hypoxia, but it's just a guess. Pretty sad.

[joeyb747]

My guess would be hypoxia, but it's just a guess. Pretty sad.

Same guess here. Maybe a slow leak in the pressurization system, and hypoxia. The looping flight path is a bit unsettling as well...

[notaperfectpilot]

dumb question, why is the FlightAware flight plan all zigzagging back and forth underneath his actual circling?

[iskyfly]

dumb question, why is the FlightAware flight plan all zigzagging back and forth underneath his actual circling?

http://flightaware.com/about/faq.rvt

[Biff]

dumb question, why is the FlightAware flight plan all zigzagging back and forth underneath his actual circling?

The dashed line is "planned route".  For sections of the route actually flown, periodic waypoints are recorded and connected with the dashed line.

[notaperfectpilot]

dumb question, why is the FlightAware flight plan all zigzagging back and forth underneath his actual circling?

The dashed line is "planned route".  For sections of the route actually flown, periodic waypoints are recorded and connected with the dashed line.

I figured that it was the planned route but are you saying that since he went in circles, FlightAware computers said: "ok, we'll insert a waypoint here and here and here and connect them together because this is the approximately the route that we predict he is going to fly"?

[Biff]

No so much of a prediction, it was the route he actually did fly.  If they inserted waypoints more often, the dashed line would look more like his actual route of flight instead of triangles.

I don't understand why they do that, especially for an IFR flight.  The planned route should never change (unless it actually does, of course).  Then you'd be able to see if the actual track deviated from the planned route.

[dave]

We discussed this at a pilot meeting recently.  The flight path also indicates some wild fluctuations in altitude during this whole "out of contact" time period.  One theory is that he was slumped over the flight controls and there was enough force there to override the autopilot.  Another theory is that the autopilot itself developed some kind of drift issue.  Or perhaps he had the autopilot off and was trimmed that well?  Not sure which one is more likely, and I am sure there are a few more theories.

We may never know the answer.  The only way that plane will be pulled is if the insurance company think s it is important enough to them to go pull it.  I have not seen any indication that the NTSB is planning to recover it - has anyone else?

[Eric M]

Was the pilot recovered from the plane before it sank? I haven't been able to determine one way or the other.

[Biff]

I've read speculation that that initial wide 180 to the right was intentional, as if he knew he had a problem and was RTB.

All the turns to the left, along with the altitude & airspeed oscillations look like a slightly out of trim airplane doing what it would do naturally to me.