Artic S-1B2 N73WY

Summary

On 14 April 2008 at about 16:38 local time, a Artic S-1B2 registered N73WY was involved in an accident near Rock River, Wyoming, United States. 2 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 April 2008 at 16:38

Classification

Accident

Location

Rock River, Wyoming, United States

Coordinates

41.8878, -105.9314

Aircraft

Artic S-1B2

Registration

N73WY

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Aerial Observation

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Laramie → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX08LA103

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed while maneuvering that led to an inadvertent stall. A contributing factor in the accident was the low altitude of the flight that reduced the time available for recovery from an upset.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot made consistent statements to various law enforcement, medical response personnel, and the company that he has no memory of the accident sequence. The flight was for the purpose of transporting a State of Wyoming biologist along various watershed features in order to take a census of geese. The biologist said they had been flying about 100 feet agl following a creek over low rolling terrain while he observed and counted the geese. On previous flights, the pilot had flown too fast for the biologist to accurately count the birds of interest and he asked the pilot to fly slower. On this flight, the pilot extended the flaps and was flying slower than on previous flights at a speed he estimated at 50 to 60 miles per hour. They were following the creek and the pilot was in a turn to the right and then he began a turn back to the left. The biologist was looking away when he then heard the pilot call out an expletive. When he looked forward, the airplane was in a right wing and nose down attitude descending toward the ground. The pilot managed to level the airplane out just before ground impact. The biologist said he did not hear a change in the engine sounds during the sequence and had not heard the pilot voice any concerns about the way the airplane was handling.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.