The NTSB’s final report on a hard-landing accident involving a CASA 212 skydiving airplane on July 29, 2022, noted a “postaccident toxicological finding of mitragynine in the SIC’s liver tissue and urine indicated that he had used a kratom product." The pilot, flying as second-in-command (SIC), died after he fell out of the airplane on the way to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (KRDU) in North Carolina.
According to the NSTB, “Although it is possible that effects of kratom may have contributed to nausea or to some dizziness or perceptual impairment that may have increased his risk of falling, there is insufficient evidence to determine whether effects of the SIC’s kratom use contributed to the accident.”
The pilots diverted to KRDU after the SIC caused damage to the right landing gear during a hard landing near Raeford, North Carolina, after dropping a load of skydivers. After going around and doing a flyby of the airstrip, the pilots were told that the broken right main landing gear was found on the surface.
Deciding to divert to KRDU because of its longer runways and emergency capabilities, the NTSB report noted, “The PIC [pilot-in-command] reported that, about this time, which was about 20 minutes into the diversion to RDU, the SIC became visibly upset and repeatedly apologized then said, ‘I think I am going to be sick.’
“The PIC described that the SIC opened his side cockpit window, turned his head toward it, and ‘may have gotten sick.’ The PIC took over radio communications, and the SIC lowered the ramp in the back of the airplane, indicating that he felt like he was going to be sick and needed air. The PIC reported that he ‘did not find this overly alarming as this [was] a common practice in a hot environment and given our situation.’ Subsequently, the PIC stated that the SIC looked at him and stated, ‘I am sorry,’ then disconnected his seat belt, dropped his headset, and ran out the back of the airplane toward the fully open ramp in a headfirst dive. In a radio transmission to ATC about 90 seconds after the SIC’s radio acknowledgment of the course heading, the PIC notified ATC that the copilot had just ‘jumped out the back of the plane without a parachute.’”
Whether the SIC intentionally jumped from the aircraft is not clear, according to the NTSB. “Although the PIC and operator reported that the SIC’s departure from the airplane was an intentional act, there was insufficient information to support that assertion.” There were no indications from the SIC’s family or the skydiving company personnel that raised concerns about his state of mind or behavior.
However, there was one situation where “the SIC had seemed to have a disproportionate, intense emotional and physical reaction upon becoming worried that he had lost a fuel payment card,” the report said. The company and the SIC’s family acknowledged that the PIC on the accident flight was also the chief pilot, so the SIC “felt that the accident flight…was very important. This would have added to the SIC’s stress and emotional response after the hard landing, during which he was the pilot flying.
“His actions to increase ventilation in the cabin, which included opening the window and lowering the ramp, as well as his hurried departure from his seat, are consistent with an attempt to address increasing nausea symptoms and a desire to not throw up in the cockpit. However, the SIC made an unsafe decision to run to the rear of the cabin with the ramp in a fully lowered position, as he likely had not previously been in the cabin in flight with the ramp down. It is possible in his haste he lost his footing when encountering the area of the ramp and inadvertently fell from the airplane. Weather sounding and radar data supported the potential for windshear and turbulence activity, and the PIC reported that there had been moderate turbulence during the flight.”
While the use of kratom is not illegal and it is widely available as an unregulated supplement in the U.S., it is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for any use, according to the NTSB, “and warns consumers not to use the drug, citing safety concerns that need further research, including risk of abuse and addiction.” Kratom is “considered disqualifying for pilots under internal FAA policy.”
Symptoms of kratom use and withdrawal can also mirror the symptoms that the user is trying to treat, such as anxiety. The NTSB reported, “…anxiety itself may predispose people to heightened physiological responses to stress, which sometimes manifest with nausea, dizziness, or feeling hot or smothered.”
The probable cause of the accident, according to the NTSB, addressed the two events, blaming the hard landing and separation of the right main landing gear on “the airplane’s encounter with windshear during landing.” The death of the SIC was due to “the pilot’s subsequent decision to leave his seat in flight, which resulted in his fall from the airplane.”