At about 1600 local time, the transient Cherokee 180 pilot requested that his airplane be fueled. The line staff was unable to do so at that time due to heavy rain and lightning nearby. Meanwhile, FBO personnel discussed his plan to take off in poor weather at night. The recently certificated private pilot, heading home after a multi-day business trip, stated he had an international flight scheduled the following day and wanted to leave as soon as possible. After further discussion, the pilot agreed to a hotel room. With the airport gate code, he left in a rental car.
The pilot returned to the airport after the FBO had closed and added 27 gallons of self-service 100LL and departed at 2005 local. The airplane climbed for about 10 minutes, reaching about 7200 feet msl. The final two minutes of the flight included a descent and a series of tight turns before entering a rapidly descending spiral turn. The airplane’s final position was recorded at 2017, about 0.15-mile south of the accident site at an altitude of about 2000 feet msl. The ADS-B data plotted by the NTSB is shown below.
