MIA99LA044

The pilot was performing touch and go landings to runway 29 with the winds reported to be 210 degrees at 6 knots, gusting to 13 knots. Observers stated that the aircraft was low and collided with scrub brush and a road sign outside the airport boundary, dug a left wing tip in the dirt, and commenced a cartwheel onto the airport and burned.

On December 13, 1998, about 1410 eastern standard time, a Rockwell AC 114A, N5913N, registered to a private individual, operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed while on final approach to New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The private-rated pilot, a German citizen and sole occupant, received serious injuries, and the airplane was destroyed by postcrash fire. The flight originated from the same airport about 1 hour before the accident.

According to the pilot, he sustained a concussion and remembers nothing about the flight. During an interview with the pilot on December 15, 1998, he was able to remember that he ordered the fuel tanks be topped off at a fixed-base operator (FBO), on New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, the day before the accident. Fuel receipts from that FBO confirms he took on 37.5 gallons on December 12, 1998. He also remembered getting his high performance/complex aircraft endorsement from a CFI at North Perry Airport before renting the aircraft on December 10, 1998. He did remember his intention was to practice instrument approaches at Daytona Beach International Airport the day of the accident.

According to the FAA inspector's statement, the pilot was conducting touch-and-go landings for about 1 hour before the accident. The pilot had rented the airplane from the registered owner, William Conroy, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on December 10, 1998, had obtained his high performance/complex endorsement and began a cross-country, multiday flight that originated from North Perry Airport, Hollywood, Florida, to Tampa International, to Orlando's Executive Airport, to New Smyrna Beach.

According to witnesses, the airplane was observed performing touch-and-go landings to runway 29, when it appeared to go low on approach, collided with scrub brush growing outside the airport boundary, hit a road sign, cartwheeled through the airport perimeter fence, and came to rest and burned inside the airport boundary. The engine was developing power before impact with the brush. One witness heard takeoff power being applied seconds before the crash.