N249BWWalker Harvell J Jr VANS RV-8 · 2010

On October 20, 2019, about 1130 central daylight time, an experimental Vans RV-8 airplane,

N249BW, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near White Plains, Alabama. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

According to a family member, the pilot was flying from Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL), Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Big T Airport (64GA), Senoia, Georgia, following a family visit. The family member reported that the pilot planned a direct flight to 64GA with no intermediate stops. After not hearing from the pilot by mid-afternoon, concerned family members contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. A search was initiated for the missing airplane and the wreckage was located about 2230 by first responders in remote, mountainous terrain.

The airplane was equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), and ADS-B data was provided by the FAA for the accident flight. The airplane departed MSL about 0950 and traveled southeast for about 63 miles, where ADS-B data terminated at about 1011, about 66 miles northwest of the accident site at an indicated mode C altitude of 1,300 feet above mean sea level (msl). Additional track data continued for about 13 additional miles until the track data terminated about 1015, about 53 miles northwest of the accident at an indicated mode C altitude of 1,050 ft msl.

The pilot was a retired airline captain and held an experimental aircraft repairman certificate for the accident airplane. The pilot’s flight logs were not available for review and his experience in the accident airplane could not be determined.

The pilot’s FAA second-class medical certificate expired on September 30, 2019; the pilot had completed the requirements for operation under BasicMed on September 25, 2019.

The airplane was built by the pilot from a kit. A review of the airplane’s maintenance records revealed no evidence of any uncorrected mechanical discrepancies with the airframe and engine.

According to FAA Advisory Circular 90-109A, Transition to Unfamiliar Aircraft, Vans RV-8 airplanes are classified as, “high-inertia and/or low-drag” with “light control forces and/or rapid airplane response.”

No air traffic control services were provided during the flight. There was no record of the pilot having requested or received a weather briefing from the FAA-contract Automated Flight Service Station provider, Leidos, or from ForeFlight. What weather information the pilot may have reviewed before departure could not be determined.

Recorded weather information from an airport about 12 nautical miles south-southeast of the accident site indicated an overcast ceiling about 1,600 ft msl. An AIRMET for instrument flight rules conditions was active for the area of the accident site at the time of the accident.

The airplane was built by the pilot from a kit. A review of the airplane’s maintenance records revealed no evidence of any uncorrected mechanical discrepancies with the airframe and engine.

According to FAA Advisory Circular 90-109A, Transition to Unfamiliar Aircraft, Vans RV-8 airplanes are classified as, “high-inertia and/or low-drag” with “light control forces and/or rapid airplane response.”

The airplane came to rest on a heading of 123° on a 50° incline in heavily wooded terrain on a north-to-south oriented mountain ridge at an elevation about 1,700 ft msl. The debris field was about 30 ft wide.

From the initial tree impact point, about 75 ft high, to the initial ground impact point, various portions of the left and right wing were scattered to where the empennage came to rest, about 34 ft from the initial ground impact point. The initial tree impact point to the initial ground impact point was 193 ft. All major structural components were accounted for at the accident site and flight control continuity was established. The two wing fuel tanks were breached and the onboard fuel level at the time of the impact was undetermined. There was no evidence of a bird strike.

A postaccident examination revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe and engine that would have precluded normal operation.

According to the autopsy performed by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, the cause of death was multiple blunt-force trauma, and the manner of death was accident. The right posterior cerebral artery showed 60-70% atherosclerotic stenosis, but the brain tissue showed no areas of acute or chronic scarring. Although visual inspection of the heart was unremarkable, the microscopic evaluation of the right ventricle showed mild to moderate interstitial and replacement fibrosis, which the pathologist found concerning for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

Toxicology testing performed by the FAA’s Forensic Sciences Laboratory identified only rosuvastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug, in the pilot’s blood and urine.

Records from the pilot’s primary care physician for the three years before the accident indicated longstanding high cholesterol and intermittent treatment for hypertension. At his last visit with his physician, one month before the accident, the pilot was being treated for high blood pressure with lisinopril and for high cholesterol with rosuvastatin. Neither of these drugs are considered impairing. The pilot underwent a stress test via his cardiologist in the preceding year, which was negative. The pilot had some microscopichematuria (blood in his urine) which was thought to be due to kidney stones that were in his kidney and were not moving.