20250823019529A

The pilot departed fairfield county airport (fdw), winnsboro, south carolina on runway 4 at about 1723 on an IFR flight plan to Baldwin County Regional Airport (mlj), Milledgeville, Georgia, about 130 nautical miles to the south-southwest. He climbed to an en route cruising altitude of about 10,000 ft MSL. Altitudes, ground speeds and headings were consistent throughout the en route portion of the flight. As the airplane approached the initial approach fix (ibudy) for the RNAV GPS 10 arrival to mlj, the pilot was in communications with the atlanta radar approach controller. The pilot was then issued a descent to 4,000 ft. the controller instructed the pilot to pass over ibudy at or above 3,000 ft, which was acknowledged. At about 10 seconds after the last communications and 6 miles east ibudy, the airplane entered a left turn towards the south and descended. The controller advised the pilot “low altitude alert, six four quebec, check your altitude immediately.” the airplane continued on a track of about 120° and descended until flight track data was lost at 1821, about 6 NM west of the approach end of runway 10 at mlj. During the descent, the airplane’s ground speed increased from 140 KTS to 179 KTS. The reported weather conditions around the time of the accident showed overcast conditions around 2,200 to 2,500 ft with clouds extending to 10,000 ft. there was no precipitation activity in the area. The airplane initially impacted the tops of 78-FT pine trees, then level terrain before coming to rest. The wreckage path was oriented on a magnetic heading of 151° and the debris field was 135 ft wide and 660 ft long. The airplane wreckage was highly fragmented. There was no evidence of a post impact fire observed at the accident site and no evidence of an inflight fire was observed on the airplane wreckage. Tree and ground impact evidence was consistent with a slight airplane nose down wings level attitude.