2021 Percy Priest Lake Cessna Citation crash

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,^[1][2] who was piloting the aircraft.^[3]

2021 Percy Priest Lake Cessna Citation crash

N66BK, the aircraft involved in the accident, in 2018
Accident
Date	29 May 2021 (2021-05-29)
Summary	Loss of control during climb
Site	Percy Priest Lake, Tennessee, United States 36.156°N 86.613°W / 36.156; -86.613
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Cessna 501 Citation I/SP
Operator	JL&GL Productions LP
Registration	N66BK
Flight origin	Smyrna Airport, Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States
Destination	Palm Beach International Airport, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Occupants	7
Passengers	6
Crew	1
Fatalities	7
Survivors	0

Accident

The aircraft took off from Smyrna Airport in Smyrna, Tennessee, at 10:53 a.m. for a planned Federal Aviation Regulations Part 91 personal flight to Palm Beach International Airport.^[1] 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, two minutes and one second after departure.^[4]

Weather conditions

Weather reports indicated the presence of an overcast cloud layer at 1,300 ft (400 m) in the area at the time.^[4]

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.^[4][5]

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.^[6]