The pilot stalled the airplane during the base leg of the traffic pattern and collided with the ground near the end of the runway approach lighting system for runway 05. The pilot had returned from a 2-year mission with his church and was reacquainting himself with flying. The pilot's medical certificate and student pilot certificate were expired. According to family members, the pilot spent the morning practicing touch-and-go takeoffs and landings with a family member (who held a commercial certificate and an expired medical certificate) and then performed five solo takeoffs and landings uneventfully. They further stated that other airplanes were flying to the airport practicing instrument approaches and it was difficult to understand where they were along the practice approaches due to their language accent. Family members stated that, while the accident airplane was on the base turn to final of the sixth approach, a multiengine airplane was on final and the pilot executed an evasive maneuver to avoid the multiengine airplane during which the accident airplane stalled and descended uncontrolled to the ground. The Federal Aviation Administration accident coordinator examined the wreckage following the accident and did not identify any preimpact mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. Although the airplane was equipped with a lap belt and shoulder harness restraint system, a family member noted that the pilot was not wearing the shoulder harness at the time of the accident because he was not performing aerobatics. Federal Aviation Regulation 14 CFR 91.107 requires the use of both seat belts and if installed, shoulder harnesses, during movement on the surface, takeoff, and landing. Review of autopsy results and impact damage to the wreckage indicated that the pilot's proper use of a shoulder harness combined with a lap belt would have significantly increased his probability of survival.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

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