Piper PA-46 (Malibu/Meridian/Mira... crash, Mar 3, 2020 (3 killed)
Piper PA-46 (Malibu/Meridian/Mirage/Matrix/M-Class) accident on March 3, 2020 near Bishop, Georgia, United States with 3 fatalities. Cause: Encounter...
- Date: March 3, 2020
- Aircraft: Piper PA-46 (Malibu/Meridian/Mirage/Matrix/M-Class)
- Location: Bishop, Georgia, United States
- Fatalities: 3
- Phase of flight: En route
- Cause: Encounter with a rain shower updraft and severe turbulence causing loss of control and inflight breakup, with reliance on outdated cockpit weather information contributing
A Piper PA 46 Malibu on an instrument flight from Columbia to Tuscaloosa flew toward a convective cell and entered heavy to very heavy precipitation. It went into a descending spiral and broke up in flight near Bishop, Georgia, killing all three on board. The NTSB found a rain shower updraft and severe turbulence caused loss of control, with outdated weather data on the cockpit display contributing.