Federal air crash investigators believe an Idaho pilot’s alcohol and medication intake probably caused him to fatally crash his single-engine plane in southeast Colorado in 2016.
The National Transportation Safety Board, in a final report on the crash near Sheridan Lake that killed 64-year-old John Lee Stubblefield, also said the combination of substances likely led him to attempt an aerobatic maneuver — called a “Muller” — just before going down that his plane was not approved for.
Investigators say they found a half-full bottle of vodka in the wreckage of Stubblefield’s Cessna P210. Air-traffic controllers also reported that he had impaired speech and made confusing statements just before crashing.
“Toxicology testing on the pilot was positive for ethanol (alcohol) at ranges between 0.247 gm/dl and 0.335 gm/dl, which is significantly higher than the legal limit of 0.040 gm/dl,” the NTSB report said.
Stubblefield also had zoldipem (which is found in the sleeping medication Ambien), lorazepam (which can be in medication that treats anxiety or seizures) and diphenhydramine (which can be found in Benadryl) in his system, according to the NTSB.
The crash happened on May 18, 2016, about four miles northeast of Sheridan Lake on the Eastern Plains. Stubblefield had departed from Rock Springs, Wyo., en route to Oklahoma City.
An air-traffic controller initially believed that Stubblefield was possibly suffering from a medical emergency or a lack of oxygen after his radio communications became out-of-the-ordinary and his plane made a series of turns, climbs and descents.
“Examination of the airframe, engine, and airplane pressurization system revealed no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation,” the NTSB report said. “Given that the airplane’s descent did not improve the pilot’s control of the airplane’s heading or the quality of his communication with the controller, it is likely that the pilot’s behavior was not the result of hypoxia.”
