Piper PA-24-250 accident near Fertile, Minnesota, July 9, 1999

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The flight instructor was giving commercial instruction to the dual student, a private pilot, in the airplane. The airplane was seen flying at low altitude in the vicinity of the Fertile Airport. One witness saw the airplane come up out of the airport and turn south. He said he saw the airplane initiate a steep banked turn to the left, just over the trees. The witness said he looked away momentarily. When he turned back to the area where he saw the airplane, it was gone. Another witness was one mile east of the accident location when he saw the airplane. He said that he saw the airplane make a left, steep- banked turn, and then go down. The witness said that the airplane was low to the ground. The witness said the airplane was as high as a spray plane in a turn, after it makes a pass over a field. Examination of the wreckage revealed 3 inch long crack in the number 5 engine cylinder exhaust pipe, circumscribing the pipe approximately 1/4 inch to 1 inch beneath the flange where the pipe joined the cylinder. No other anomalies with the airplane were revealed. State Medical Examiner's Laboratory test results from the dual student pilot showed blood carbon monoxide to be 1.3 percent. The results of FAA toxicology testing of specimens from the dual student pilot were reported negative for all tests conducted. FAA toxicology results do not report carbon monoxide as positive until it reaches 10 percent. No carboxyhemoglobin tests were conducted on the instructor pilot due to blood contamination.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.