19990911026859A

(.19) On September 11, 1999, at 1622 central daylight time, a Gulfstream American corporation AA-5A, N26801, collided with trees while photographing a parcel of land, in Carthage, MS. The airplane was operated by the pilot under the provisions of title 14 CFR part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight. The first pilot received serious injuries, the second pilot received fatal injuries, the passenger received minor injuries, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight had originated from the jackson Mississippi airport at 1335. According to the first pilot, he had flown from jackson to the parcel of land that he wanted to photograph. He said he relinquished the airplane controls to the second pilot so that he could take the photographs. While photographing the land, he looked up into the cockpit and saw the airspeed was around 65 knots. He tapped the airspeed indicator to indicate to the second pilot that they needed to increase their airspeed. The first pilot stated that he continued to take pictures and when he looked up again the airplane was heading straight for some trees . The aircraft came to rest at the base of the trees inverted. (.4) the owner of the airplane, a pilot-rated passenger, and a second passenger flew up to the owner's farm to photograph timberland that had recently burned in a fire. Throughout most of the flight, the owner was the pilot and temporarily gave the flight controls to the right seat passenger. After taking several pictures with the pilot-rated passenger at the flight controls, he looked up and noticed that several trees were directly in front of the airplane's flight path. He resumed full control of the airplane, applied full power, and pulled back on the control yoke in an attempt to gain altitude. Unable to clear the tops of the trees, the airplane impacted several pine trees and came to rest along the base of the pine trees in an inverted position.