A pilot was killed on Tuesday morning when his single-engine Cirrus SR22 crashed in a wooded area of Jackson Parish, Louisiana. Jackson Parish Sheriff Andy Brown said the aircraft crashed about five miles southeast of Ruston Regional Airport at around 10:30 a.m. The pilot, a Texas man, was the only person aboard.
Brown told KTBS that the pilot, who worked in Ruston, was en route to the city when the crash occurred. Air traffic controllers in Monroe reported losing contact with the aircraft as it began its descent toward the Louisiana airport. Brown said the pilot reported engine trouble, and residents in the area told KTBS they heard the plane circling with apparent mechanical issues before impact.
ADS-B data indicates the aircraft began a series of exaggerated S-turns below 2,500 ft, just a few miles south of the airport over what Brown described as a remote area surrounded by “heavy timber,” immediately before the crash.
“Wasn’t much left of the plane,” Brown said.
Nearby METAR data from the airport within the hour of the crash indicated visibilities between 5 to 6 statute miles, initially with mist, but later with light rain. Few clouds at 400 feet with a broken cloud layer at 2,100 feet were reported at thirty-five minutes past the hour with pressure rising rapidly. By fifty-five minutes past the hour, data indicated a broken layer at 300 feet with light rain and mist.
The Cirrus was registered to LaSalle Management Company of Ruston, which operates the Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Jonesboro.
The NTSB is now leading the investigation. Louisiana experienced two fatal plane crashes yesterday; the other involved a Beechcraft Baron near Lafayette.
We’ll probably never know why the pilot didn’t use the BRS with an engine issue. I’ll be interested to see pilot qualifications and whether he was VFR or IFR.
Given the wildly varying altitude, heading and the weather, I can’t help but wonder if this was a loss of control in IMC. Altitude as low as 1450 to around 2400 right before the last ADS-B hit, heading all over the pace… I’m betting loss of control in IMC and just never pulled the handle or the aircraft was in a state that precluded a successful chute deployment before impact. Might’ve been trying to find the airport as where those turns were there was a large clearing that looks like it’d bee logged, then replanted.