- Date
- August 16, 2024, 07:15 local (11:15 UTC)
- Place
- Mooresburg, TN · 209 Brooks Rd
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N21811Piper J3
- Defining event
- Maneuvering: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20240816013359A
- Case key
- 194939
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s intentional flight into a building as an act of suicide.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot departed from a private airstrip and overflew his property. The airplane subsequently impacted a barn adjacent to the airstrip. The airplane sustained substantial damage, and the fuselage was mostly consumed by the postimpact fire that ensued. The pilot was fatally injured. An autopsy of the pilot was performed by the William L. Jenkins Forensic Center, Johnson City, Tennessee. The autopsy report listed the cause of death as blunt force injuries and the manner of death as suicide.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N21811
- Reported as
- Piper J3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2587
- Built
- 1938
- Engine
- Franklin, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- Pvt
- Equipment
- Unknown
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 60
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 24 total · 24 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 9 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- 0VG, 18 nm away
- METAR
- 0VG 161115Z AUTO 00000KT 9SM CLR 18/18 A3009 RMK AO2
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 5, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.1 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.