WPR26FA032

On October 24, 2025 at 2115 mountain daylight time, a Cirrus SR22T, N740TS, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Lincoln, Montana. The pilot sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 personal flight. The pilot’s brother, who was also a partial owner of the airplane, stated they spoke with one another on the telephone a few hours before the pilot departed. He stated that on the day of the accident, the pilot decided he wanted to join him for a hunting trip that started the following morning, and was debating between driving or flying. They decided he would fly to Lincoln Airport (S69), despite never having landed there before, because it was closer to the camp where they would be staying. They briefed the flight together and reviewed the weather. The brother monitored the airplane with live flight tracking data online and arrived at the airport about 2120, observing the runway lights were illuminated, but the airplane was not at the airport. A video camera located in the town of Lincoln captured footage of the airplane’s lights in its last minute of the flight. The airplane’s recoverable data module (RDM) was recovered from the accident site and preliminary information was downloaded. A review of the data revealed that the airplane departed from the pilot’s home base in Spokane, Washington about 2010. The airplane continued on a direct route southeast to Lincoln at an altitude of 9,700 ft mean sea level (msl). About an hour after departure, the airplane was 17 nm from S69 and the autopilot mode was changed to selected altitude mode (ALTS), which was previously entered to be 6,000 ft. As the airplane descended into the valley at 2112:39, about 1,150 ft above ground level (agl), the pilot lowered the flaps to 50%. The airplane continued to descend and full flaps (100%) were selected 17 seconds later. The airplane aligned with Highway 200, an east-west oriented road that passed directly through the town of Lincoln. (See Figure 1). While flying over the highway, descending to an altitude of 150 ft agl, the indicated airspeed was between 77 and 87 kts. The airplane then began a gradual climb and the flaps were retracted to 50%, where they remained until impact. Figure 1: Accident flight path as the airplane approached the destination airport The airplane passed over the town and momentarily crossed to the south side of the highway as it maneuvered toward the airport. (See Figure 2). At 2114:43 the airplane was north of the runway near midfield about 1,030 ft agl. The airplane then made a left turn near the airport’s beacon light and was on a north heading while descending to 575 ft agl. During the descent, at 2114:51 the Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) activated. The airplane began to climb 5 seconds later and full power was added about 2115:00. A steep left bank was initiated and the stall warning activated at 2115:06 as the airspeed slowed to 50 kts.Immediately thereafter, the autopilot and yaw damper disconnected. A second stall warning activated and the left-bank continued to steepen while the airplane descended rapidly to the accident site. During the 7 second descent, there was another TAWS alert at which time the engine remained at full power. Figure 2: The last portion of the accident flight (inset showing a composite of the video footage) The accident site was located on flat terrain in a sparsely populated neighborhood north of the airport. The terrain consisted of soft dirt and there were numerous trees immediately surrounding the accident site. The accident site was at an elevation of about 4,600 ft and located 3,355 ft from the runway surface. (See Figure 3). Figure 3: Aerial view of the accident site in reference to the runway The airplane came to rest with the nose oriented on a northerly heading, opposite the direction of the debris field. The wreckage was scattered over a 275-foot area, with the most distant debris, primarily windscreen fragments, located south of the main wreckage. The majority of the main wreckage had sustained significant thermal damage that was consistent with the post-impact fire. At the beginning of the debris field was a group of mature aspen trees that were severed at various heights. (See Figure 4). The damage and cuts in the trees were progressively lower in height moving toward the main wreckage. Close examination of the cuts in the trees revealed that paint chips were embedded in the fresh tree cuts. The left-wing spar was separated about six feet inboard from the wingtip; there was composite material similar in appearance to the spar found embedded in a downed tree top. The left main landing gear was separated from its respective gearbox, consistent with impact with a tree. Figure 4: Trees at the start of the debris field with a model showing possible impact angle matching the damage The airport was equipped with pilot-activated medium intensity runway lights (MIRL) and a 2-light precision approach path indicator (PAPI) on the left side of runway 04. The lights remained illuminated for 15 minutes after activation. A review of FAA aviation weather camera imagery at the airport revealed that the runway lights were illuminated sometime between 2109-2111. According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, the phase of the moon was waxing crescent with 11.5% of the moon's visible disk illuminated. Sunset was at 1827 and civil twilight was at 1857. Moon set was at 1935 and at the time of the accident, the moon was about 14.69° below the horizon (including refraction) on an azimuth (heading) of 244°. The pilot’s spouse stated that he would frequently take last-minute trips and was very comfortable flying the airplane. She stated that he would often fly at night, although those flights would usually terminate at his home airport, which he was familiar with. A review of the airplane’s historic ADS-B data did not reveal any recent flights that occurred after civiltwilight.