On March 10, 2018, at 1646 central standard time, a Piper Sport airplane, N422PS, impacted terrain after a loss of engine power at Addison Airport in Addison, Texas.

The flight instructor and passenger sustained serious injuries and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane was registered to a private individual and operated by Excite Aircraft, Inc., doing business as US Sport Aircraft. The flight was being operated under Part 91 as an instructional flight, and - in a horrifying twist - the accident passenger's husband was on the ground in another aircraft, about to begin his own concurrent discovery flight, when he looked up and saw his wife's plane plummeting an estimated 1,000+ feet.

A review of the air traffic control recording revealed that at 1642 the pilot called ATC for a departure clearance while holding short of runway 15. At 1643 ATC instructed the pilot to line up and wait on runway 15. At 1644 ATC cleared the airplane for takeoff. At 1646 the pilot stated to ATC "we're having vapor lock, we need to come back and land." There were no further communications from the pilot.

Several witnesses observed the accident airplane during the event and reported that the airplane was flying west over the southeast side of the airport. The airplane descended out of view behind several hangars and then climbed above the hangars while flying south. The airplane made a left climbing turn toward the runway and then descended again until it impacted terrain on the east side of runway 33 threshold.

Emergency services responded to the accident site. The flight instructor was transported by ambulance, and the accident passenger was airlifted to a hospital.

What a first flight. (And second.)

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