Maule M-5-180C N5660F

Summary

On 14 August 2007 at about 00:15 local time, a Maule M-5-180C registered N5660F was involved in an accident near Arctic Village, Alaska, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 August 2007 at 00:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Arctic Village, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

68.7600, -145.3347

Aircraft

Maule M-5-180C

Registration

N5660F

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Arctic Village → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC07FA082

2 people died.

The pilot's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed to avoid a stall/spin while maneuvering.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airline transport pilot and passenger departed a remote gravel site to scout the area near their hunting camp for sheep. The pilot told his son that they would return in about 30 minutes. Several days later, the pilot's son flagged down a passing airplane, and reported the missing airplane. Searchers located the airplane wreckage, about 4,000 feet elevation, on a steep slope in a canyon 3-4 miles from the hunting camp. The airplane impacted terrain on a steep scree slope, surrounded by high terrain, coming to rest about 200 feet upslope from the bottom of a steep ravine. The airplane wreckage was consumed by fire, but the basic structures remained, and all the major flight control components were present. The airplane impacted the slope at a steep, nose down attitude, coming to rest with the tail down slope, and against a rock outcrop on the right side. The left wing structure had rotated over the top of the fuselage, bending the rudder top to the right, and coming to rest on top of the right wing, consistent with the airplane spinning at impact. The propeller blades had extreme torsional twisting and bending, and chord-wise scratches indicating the production of power at the time of the impact. Given the steep, rising terrain, and the impact signatures on the airplane, it is probable the pilot elected to fly up the valley. In the process, he allowed the airspeed to decay, and stalled the airplane while maneuvering to avoid the rising terrain Due to the remote, hazardous location, the accident airplane was not recovered.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.