Misplaced Pages

2021 Percy Priest Lake Cessna Citation crash

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "2021 Percy Priest Lake Cessna Citation crash" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Plane crash in Tennessee.

2021 Percy Priest Lake Cessna Citation crash
N66BK, the aircraft involved in the accident, in 2018
Accident
Date29 May 2021 (2021-05-29)
SummaryLoss of control during climb
SitePercy Priest Lake, Tennessee, United States
36°09′22″N 86°36′47″W / 36.156°N 86.613°W / 36.156; -86.613
Aircraft
Aircraft typeCessna 501 Citation I/SP
OperatorJL&GL Productions LP
RegistrationN66BK
Flight originSmyrna Airport, Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States
DestinationPalm Beach International Airport, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Occupants7
Passengers6
Crew1
Fatalities7
Survivors0

On 29 May 2021, a Cessna 501 Citation I/SP crashed into the Percy Priest Lake in Tennessee, United States. All seven occupants died, including Remnant Fellowship Church founder Gwen Shamblin Lara and her husband, actor Joe Lara, who was piloting the aircraft.

Accident

The aircraft took off from Smyrna Airport in Smyrna, Tennessee, at 10:50 a.m. for a planned Federal Aviation Regulations Part 91 personal flight to Palm Beach International Airport. After takeoff, the aircraft started a right turn and climbed to an altitude of 2,900 ft (880 m) before descending to 1,800 ft (550 m), climbing again to 3,000 ft (910 m), and then descending into the lake.

Weather conditions

Weather reports indicated the presence of an overcast cloud layer at 1,300 ft (400 m) in the area at the time.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved, owned by JL&GL Productions LP, was a Cessna 501 Citation, registered as N66BK. It was equipped with two P&WC JT15D-1B engines. When the aircraft was last inspected, it had accumulated 4781.4 hours. The aircraft was manufactured in 1982, and had its maiden flight the same year.

Investigation

By 1 June 2021, searchers had recovered both aircraft engines, a significant portion of the fuselage, and unidentified human remains. Authorities had named the seven victims, all of whom were leaders at the Remnant Fellowship Church.

On 22 March 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the cause of the accident was "the pilot's loss of airplane control during climb due to spatial disorientation." Flight tracking data revealed that after takeoff, the aircraft entered clouds at 1,300 ft (400m) and made a series of heading changes, along with several climbs and descents, before it entered a steep, descending left turn. Accelerations associated with the airplane’s increasing airspeed were likely perceived by the pilot as the airplane pitching up although it was in a continuous descent. This occurred because Lara was experiencing a type of spatial disorientation, a somatogravic illusion, and he probably did not effectively use his instruments during takeoff and climb. As a result, Lara most likely experienced a high workload managing the flight profile, which would have had a negative effect on his performance. As such, the airplane entered a high acceleration, unusual attitude, descending left turn from which he was not able to recover.

The NTSB investigation reviewed Lara's pilot training in the CE-500-type aircraft and reported that at the end of a 12-day series of training sessions at a flight school in January 2020, "the pilot did not meet the requisite performance level to attempt the CE-500 type rating check ride." Lara returned to his local instructor for more training and subsequently passed his check ride. Nonetheless, a pilot who flew in the accident aircraft with the accident pilot on several occasions judged him to be "weak" when flying in instrument meteorological conditions.

References

  1. ^ Barnes, Mike (30 May 2021). "Joe Lara, Star of 'Tarzan: The Epic Adventures,' Dies in Plane Crash at 58". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  2. Bacon, John; Sharon, Keith (30 May 2021). "Plane carrying diet guru Gwen Lara, 6 others crashes into Tennessee lake; all on board presumed dead". USA Today. Gannett. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  3. "NTSB: Pilot error in crash killing diet guru Gwen Shamblin". 22 March 2023.
  4. ^ "NTSB final report". www.ntsb.gov. NTSB. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  5. "N66BK Aircraft Registration". flightaware.com. FlightAware. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  6. "NTSB Docket - Docket Management System". data.ntsb.gov. National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
Cessna Citation family
Names
Citation
Other
Model
numbers
Military
Accidents and
incidents
Aviation accidents and incidents in 2021 (2021)
Jan 9 Sriwijaya Air Flight 182Jan 24 Palmas FR plane crashFeb 20 Longtail Aviation Flight 5504Feb 20 United Airlines Flight 328Mar 3 South Sudan Supreme Airlines Let L-410UVP-EMar 4 Turkish Air Force Eurocopter crashMar 5 Xumabee Game Ranch helicopter crashMar 7 Touques Airbus AS350B helicopter crashMar 27 Knik Glacier helicopter crashMay 12 Colorado mid-air collisionMay 21 Nigerian Air Force Super King Air crashMay 23 Ryanair Flight 4978May 29 Percy Priest Lake Cessna Citation crashJul 2 Transair Flight 810Jul 4 Philippine Air Force C-130 crashJul 6 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Flight 251Jul 16 Siberian Light Aviation Flight 42Sep 12 Siberian Light Aviation Flight 51Oct 3 Milan airplane crashOct 10 Menzelinsk parachute Let L-410UVP-E crashOct 19 Houston MD-87 crashNov 3 Grodno Aviakompania Flight 1252Nov 5 Piedade de Caratinga Beechcraft King Air crashNov 30 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-17 crashDec 8 Indian Air Force Mil Mi-17 crashDec 15 Punta Caucedo Gulfstream G-IVSP crash
2020   ◄    ►   2022
Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 2020s
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
See also: Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States by state or territory
2010–2019 ◄ 2020–2029 ► 2030–2039
Portal: Categories: