VENICE, FL — The I-Team continues its coverage of factors that may have played a role in Wednesday’s deadly plane crash.
We have learned more about the pilot’s FAA health certificate and the airplane’s history.
64-year-old William Jeffrey Lumpkin of Fishers, Indiana, was identified Thursday as the pilot who crashed near Venice Municipal Airport Wednesday night.
The crash killed him, his wife and another Indiana couple.
The NTSB is now investigating what may have contributed to the fatal crash, including weather, visibility, pilot fitness and any issues with the aircraft.
On Thursday, we reported how Venice Municipal Airport was the site of multiple previous fatal crashes blamed on “spatial disorientation” due to the runway ending near the Gulf of Mexico, where there is limited visibility at night.
Pilot's FAA Medical Certificate expired in 2017
We’ve now learned that in 2016 Lumpkin received a “special issuance” medical certificate to pilot an aircraft.
Commercial pilot Robert Katz reviewed Lumpkin’s FAA Airman’s Certificate.
“We see that that was issued with a firm expiration date of June 2017. Meaning his certificate was not valid for any class after that date,” Katz said.
In 2021, Lumpkin applied for a BasicMed certificate, which is a new kind of certification approved by Congress in 2016, which doesn’t require small, private plane pilots to be examined by aviation medical examiners.
Those are doctors who specialize in examining commercial pilots.
"It's a loophole"
“It’s a loophole. It’s a workaround. It was brought about because the majority of the pilot community in the United States is getting older and will no longer qualify under the criteria that the FAA requires for pilot fitness,” Katz said.
“I thought that it made pilots more aware of their medical condition and their personal situation,” said
Richard McSpadden, Executive Director of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
That organization, among dozens of others, lobbied Congress in support of the BasicMed program.
Study shows no difference in accident risk
“There’s been some 75,000 pilots or so that fly under basic med. And it’s important to realize It wasn’t ever intended to be an easier program or a loophole,” McSpadden said.
McSpadden says a recent FAA study “found no difference in accident risk” between BasicMed pilots and pilots holding third-class medical certificates, which are issued for private plane pilots.
Under the requirements, BasicMed certificate holders must fill out health questionnaires every two years and be examined by their doctor every four years.
The FAA report says the Basic Med study findings “do not include determination of accident causation.”
It also found that BasicMed airmen are “at an empirically greater risk of disease-related death because of their higher age.”
The plane had been previously damaged
The I-Team has also learned that the 1976 Piper that crashed was previously damaged.
Photos of the plane were posted on an online salvage auction website.
The description says the plane suffered “aircraft gear collapse” in Olive Branch, Mississippi and was sold “as is with no warranty” for $43,127.99 in 2020.
Records show Lumpkin registered the plane in June of 2021, the same month he received his BasicMed certification.
If you have a story you’d like the I-Team to investigate, email us at adam@abcactionnews.com
