FlightFollowerFatal Crash in Poor Weather — Spatial Disorientation and Loss of Control
Donald Harbert Sefton, 69, and Valerie Jean Serpa, 67, both of Fallon, Nevada, flew their Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain into Medford, Oregon, on November 24, 2021, and discovered a large fuel leak from the right wing root after landing. Eleven days later, after the repair was finished, the return flight ended in a fatal crash within minutes of takeoff.
Accident Facts
- Accident
- WPR22FA055
- Date
- December 5, 2021, 4:52 p.m. local
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, N64BR
- Location
- Medford, Oregon (Rogue Valley International–Medford Airport)
- Operation
- Part 91 personal flight
- Fatalities
- 2 (pilot Donald Harbert Sefton, passenger Valerie Jean Serpa)
- Probable cause
- The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during the initial climb into clouds due to spatial disorientation, which resulted in
A Fuel Leak, a Repair, and an Eleven-Day Wait
After landing at Rogue Valley International–Medford Airport, Sefton arranged repairs with a fixed-base operator and rented a car to drive home to Nevada rather than wait on-site. On December 4, a mechanic notified him the work was complete. Sefton said he planned to arrive back at the airport at about 2:30 p.m. the next day, December 5 — the day of the accident.
A Departure Into Cloud
The Navajo departed Medford at 4:52 p.m. into instrument meteorological conditions on a standard instrument departure calling for a climbing right turn direct to a nondirectional beacon. Shortly after takeoff, Sefton radioed the tower to ask whether the controller would call his turn for him.
The controller told him no — that he should fly the departure as published, making the climbing right turn to overfly the approach end of the runway. Sefton acknowledged the instruction. It was his last transmission.
A Turn, a Dip Below the Clouds, Then a Loop
Radar data reconstructed after the accident showed the airplane completing a 360-degree turn and briefly descending below the cloud layer before climbing back into it. From there, the Navajo entered an inverted loop and descended into the ground in a near-vertical attitude, striking the parking lot of an automobile dealership roughly 2,800 feet southwest of the runway.
The wreckage — and several customer vehicles parked in the service lot — were destroyed by the impact and the fire that followed.
No Mechanical Failure Found
A postaccident examination found no evidence of a preimpact mechanical malfunction. Recorded engine sounds before the accident were consistent with both engines operating, and propeller signatures matched each other and were consistent with similar rpm on both sides at impact. The airplane, powered by twin Lycoming TIO-540 engines, was equipped with a Garmin GNS 530W and an autopilot.
A Light Left On
Investigators noted that Sefton left the anti-collision lights on while flying through the clouds — a detail that can produce flicker vertigo, a disorienting strobing effect caused by rotating beacon light reflecting off cloud moisture. The NTSB could not determine with certainty why Sefton became spatially disoriented, only that the conditions were conducive to it and that no mechanical explanation fit the evidence.
The Investigation’s Conclusion
Sefton was qualified on the aircraft and had recently completed recurrent training. The NTSB's finding placed the cause not in the airplane, but in what happened after it entered the clouds.
Sources
NTSB Accident Number WPR22FA055, preliminary and factual reports; Kathryn's Report contemporaneous coverage; ARFF Working Group NTSB preliminary summary; video.