20010819020639A

(-23) During a night flight, aircraft crashed into trees and struck ground nose down. (.19) on August 19, 2001, at 0420 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28-151, N57297, collided with trees during a night flight near Rienzi, Mississippi. The personal flight was operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 CFR part 91 with no flight plan filed. Weather conditions at the accident site were not determined, however, weather conditions at the nearest weather reporting facility showed a low cloud condition. The airplane was destroyed, and the private pilot and his two passengers were fatally injured. The flight departed tunica, Mississippi, at approximately 0335. According to the fixed base operator at muscle shoal airport in muscle shoal, Alabama, the recently certificated private pilot and his two passengers departed muscle shoals airport on the afternoon of August 18, 2001, with a planned destination of tunica, Mississippi. After several hours in tunica, at 0235, on August 19, 2001, a limo driver from a local hotel stated that he drove the pilot and his two passengers back to tunica municipal airport for their return flight to muscle shoals. At approximately 0420, a witness reported hearing an airplane flying in the vicinity of the accident site. The witness also reported hearing the airplane as it appeared to have lost engine power and the subsequent collision with trees. The flight never reached the planned destination. On August 19, 2001, a search for the missing airplane was launched after the pilot's family became concerned. On August 22, 2001, after an extensive air and ground search by local officials, the airplane wreckage was located in a wooded area adjacent to a corn field in Rienzi, Mississippi. Examination of the accident site showed the airplane rested in a nose-low attitude adjacent to two trees. The engine assembly was buried several inches into the ground. The empennage section was stacked on top of the cockpit and passenger sections of the airframe at the point of ground impact. (.4) the airplane collided with trees and terrain during a night flight that departed at 0249 central daylight time. The private pilot was recently certificated. Weather reporting facilities indicated the possibility of IFR conditions in the vicinity of the accident site about the time of the accide nt, and it was a moonless, dark night. GPS data retrieved from a hand-held unit recovered from the wreckage indicate nearly constant heading fluctuations throughout the flight, depicting a scalloped flight path and eventual 360-degree turn to the right at the end of the data set. Examination of the accident site showed the airplane rested in a nose-low attitude adjacent to two trees. Wreckage debris was scattered over am area approximately 70 feet land and 35 feet wide. The wreckage path was orientated on a 240 degree magnetic heading. The engine assembly was buried several inches into the ground. The empennage section was stacked on top of the cockpit and passenger sections of the airframe at the point of ground impact. Examination of the air frame and the engine assembly revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunction or a component failure.