Arizona Accident Pilot Arrested In Utah After Four Years At Large

The St George News (Utah) reported today (Jan.10) that, as the result of a traffic stop, the Utah State Highway Patrol has arrested a man facing charges related to a four-year-old fatal aircraft accident. Arizonan Christopher Anderson, 47, was wanted on federal charges including involuntary manslaughter related to the crash of a 1958 Piper PA-22 he was flying in January 2019. The passenger, his girlfriend of 3.5 years, was killed.

Among other discrepancies related to the accident investigation, FAA records revealed that Anderson was issued a student pilot certificate in 2014, but despite numerous reports that he regularly flew with passengers, he had never been issued a private pilot’s certificate. In addition, Anderson failed to report to the FAA that he has been an insulin-dependent diabetic since 2002 and used an insulin pump for self-treatment. While there has been significant progress in enabling diabetic pilots to fly legally, without a waiver, such a condition is still disqualifying for a pilot medical certificate. Heidi Dowland, 38, Anderson’s girlfriend, was the non-pilot owner of the aircraft and was Anderson's passenger on the fatal flight. She reportedly bought the TriPacer for Anderson to fly.

According to information from numerous sources cited in Kathryn’s Report, the accident flight was the second leg of a trip that began at Meadview, Arizona, where Dowland had a lake house, stopping for fuel at Kingman Municipal Airport (KIGM) and on to Glendale Municipal Airport (KGEU) to meet with Dowland’s sister. The couple had flown from their home base, Prescott Municipal Airport (KPRC), the previous afternoon to Pearce Ferry Airport (L25), a dirt airstrip in Meadview, to attend a birthday party for a friend at a local bar.

Based on a text from Dowland to her sister, the trip to Glendale launched from Pearce Ferry Airport at around 10 a.m. the next day. It remains unclear whether Anderson actually refueled the TriPacer at Kingman about a half-hour after leaving L25, but he later told first responders that 10 minutes after takeoff from Kingman, the engine lost power and he tried to return to the airport. It crash-landed in rough terrain, rolled over, and ended up on its back in a ravine. Dowland died at the scene and Anderson was seriously injured. He crawled from the wreckage and walked to a road where a motorist spotted him and called 911. Anderson was transported to a local hospital and later moved to a larger hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The examination of the aircraft showed no evidence of fuel in the tanks or surrounding ground. It also revealed that both fuel caps were missing, drawing investigators to the conclusion that Anderson failed to replace them after fueling—or attempting to fuel—and that whatever fuel was in the tanks quickly siphoned off in flight. As a result, an official cause of the accident is listed as fuel exhaustion.

Though the party reportedly lasted into the early morning hours, Anderson’s emergency treatment revealed no evidence of excessive alcohol but did reveal that his blood sugar level was two times normal, suggesting he had used his insulin pump recently. Anderson was uncooperative in the investigation, including refusing to supply documentation of pilot credentials. He was ultimately charged by a federal court in Arizona with one count of involuntary manslaughter within an aircraft jurisdiction and a second count of registration violations involving aircraft, according to the arrest warrant quoted by the St George paper. According to the report, he is scheduled to make an initial appearance in St. George (Utah) District Court tomorrow (Jan. 11) and is currently on federal hold in a local jail.