Grumman American Avn AA-1B N9646L

Summary

On 9 March 2009 at about 11:40 local time, a Grumman American Avn AA-1B registered N9646L, operated by Rupert Randal N, was involved in an accident near Golden, New Mexico, 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

9 March 2009 at 11:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Golden, New Mexico, United States

Nearest airport

Sandia Airpark Estates Airport (1N1)

Coordinates

35.2369, -106.2025

Aircraft

Grumman American Avn AA-1B

Registration

N9646L

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Rupert Randal N

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Sandia Airpark → Los Alamos Airp

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN09FA195

2 people died.

The pilot's continued visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions. Contributing to the accident were the pilot's recent usage of alcohol and his subsequent impairment.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument-rated private pilot and passenger were commuting to work in the dark, following a familiar route of flight. The airplane was not equipped to fly in instrument weather conditions and there was no evidence found indicating the pilot had obtained a weather briefing or filed a flight plan. One witness described light rain falling at the departure airfield 30 minutes before the airplane departed. A second witness, who was driving along the airplane's intended route of flight, saw the airplane depart the airfield and described the weather deteriorating from light rain to snow as she drove towards the accident site. She indicated that heavy snow was falling when she saw the accident site and notified authorities. Ethanol was detected in a postmortem urine specimen (at 0.191 mg/dL), and in two separate postmortem blood specimens from the pilot (at 0.075 and 0.092 mg/dL), consistent with impairment from the effects of alcohol at the time of the accident. No witnesses to the pilot’s behavior the night prior to the accident could be found.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.