Amateur-built Ace N5545 accident near Mammoth Springs, Arkansas

Probable cause

The pilot’s intentional flight into terrain as an act of suicide.

NTSB analysis

The airplane, which was owned by the pilot, took off from a private airstrip and flew to a rock quarry. Witnesses saw the airplane circle around the quarry several times. One witness saw the airplane fly directly into the quarry and collide with a rock wall.

The wreckage was located directly below and adjacent to a 75-ft rock wall. The damage to the wreckage was consistent with a high-energy impact. Examination of the airplane revealed no preimpact mechanical deficiencies that would have precluded normal operation.

Postmortem toxicological testing detected ethanol at 0.048 g/dl, along with n-propanol, in the blood cavity. Neither ethanol nor n-propanol was detected in vitreous fluid. Detection of n-propanol in a postmortem specimen is potentially indicative of postmortem microbial activity in the specimen but does not necessarily mean that microbial activity produced ethanol. These findings suggest that the ethanol detected was likely from postmortem production, not alcohol consumption.

Following a death investigation, local law enforcement and the local the coroner classified the manner of death as a suicide.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN23FA155 for the full record.