Image courtesy of BrickYardSpotter/JetPhotos
At approximately 10:34am local time on March 30th, a Cirrus SR22 owned by Cloudsail Aviation LLC (operating as Elite Flight Experience) crashed into a wooded area near Franklin Township, NJ. The pilot, Pankaj Mohan, 61, from Lawrenceville, NJ, was the only person on board, and did not survive the crash. The plane was en route from Princeton Airport to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The cause is under investigation by the FAA and NTSB, with no official determination yet, although a witness reported hearing the engine straining before a loud impact. The SR22 in question, N319TM is a 2024 SR22 GTS G7 Carbon, MSN #9993.
Aviation Safety Network reported the following narrative:
According to ADS-B data, the airplane departed Princeton, New Jersey (39N), at about 1030 and conducted a climbing turn to the northeast. The autopilot was engaged and the climb appeared uneventful. At about 1032, the airplane was at 1750 ft and climbing when the autopilot was disengaged. The airplane descended 150 ft then climbed back to 1750 ft. About 30 seconds later, the airplane entered an abrupt, right descending turn towards 1175 ft (with an average rate of -1600 fpm) before it recovered again and climbed to 1600 ft. A few seconds later, the airplane entered an out-of-control left spiral which was not recovered from.
According to weather tracking sites, there was an active AIRMET for LIFR conditions, and it was a soup. I was at Monmouth Executive Airport that morning for some ground school, and you couldn’t even see the FBO from the flight school. Another SR22 (privately owned) actually took off enroute to Georgetown, DE from Monmouth despite METARs from Trenton and Monmouth both showing a 400ft ceiling and <6 miles of visibility.
A significant detail emerged from witness accounts, particularly from former Frankling Township mayor Chris Kelly, who lives near the crash site. He reported hearing the plane’s engine “straining” to gain altitude, followed by a sound resembling a bomb explosion.
Elite Flight Experience has already removed 319TM from their current listed fleet (Courtesy of Internet Archive)
