ERA19LA180

The airline transport pilot departed on a repositioning flight in the jet airplane. The airplane was in level cruise flight at 39,000 ft mean sea level when the pilot became unresponsive to air traffic controllers. The airplane continued over 300 miles past the destination airport before it descended and impacted the Atlantic Ocean. Neither the pilot nor the airplane were recovered, and the reason for the airplane's impact with water could not be determined based on the available information.

On May 24, 2019, about 1755 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 560, N832R, was destroyed when it impacted the Atlantic Ocean. The airline transport pilot was not found and presumed fatally injured. The airplane was owned and operated by Jet Sales LLC as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 positioning flight. Day visual meteorological conditions existed near the accident site at the time of the accident, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the cross-country flight, which originated from St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN), Alton, Illinois, about 1430, and was destined for Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE), Fort Lauderdale, Florida.The owner of the airplane reported that he purchased the airplane 2 days before the accident. The airplane had recently undergone a progressive inspection, which was completed on May 22, 2019. The owner hired the accident pilot to fly the airplane to FXE to have avionics work completed. On the day of the accident, the owner tracked the flight using an online commercial service once it departed ALN. Shortly after 1700, he received a call from the avionics shop at FXE telling him that the airplane did not arrive. He then reviewed the airplane's online flight track again and saw that it had overflown FXE at 39,000 ft mean sea level (FL390) and was heading toward the Atlantic Ocean. According to air traffic control radar and radio communication information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the pilot established communications with the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and reported that the airplane was level at FL390 and that the air was smooth. Thirteen minutes later, the controller instructed the pilot to contact the Jacksonville ARTCC, but the pilot was unresponsive. The controller made several attempts to contact the pilot on different radio frequencies, but no response was received. Controllers continued to monitor the flight via radar as it continued through Jacksonville and Miami ARTCC airspace without radio contact. The US Air Force dispatched two aircraft to intercept the accident airplane. As they approached the accident airplane, they could only see a vapor/contrail emitting from the right engine. The accident airplane slowed to about 100 knots as the interceptor airplanes passed it, and the pilots could not see the cockpit windows or inside the accident airplane. The accident airplane appeared to lose total engine power, then descended and impacted the Atlantic Ocean about 310 statute miles east of FXE. The US Coast Guard initiated a search after the accident, which was suspended on May 25, 2019. Neither the pilot nor the airplane were recovered. The pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single- and multi-engine land. His most recent FAA first-class medical certificate was issued on June 26, 2018. He reported 9,016 total hours of flight experience. He held numerous type ratings, including a type ratingfor the Cessna 560. The pilot's wife stated that her husband was not on any medications and that he had been sleeping well. The airplane was manufactured in 2001, and was powered by two Pratt and Whitney 535A engines. The airplane completed a phase 1-4 progressive inspection on May 22, 2019. The airframe and engine total time was 4,744.6 hours at the time of the inspection. According to the airplane's owner, all of the airplane's maintenance logs were onboard the airplane during the accident flight. Review of maintenance records from the most recent progressive inspection revealed two discrepancies related to the environmental system; the air cycle machine coalescer filter was changed and the main entrance door secondary seal was replaced. Maintenance records indicated that post-maintenance operational checks were satisfactory.