Piper PA 22-150 N3664Z

Summary

On 9 August 2017 at about 16:25 local time, a Piper PA 22-150 registered N3664Z was involved in an accident near Las Vegas, New Mexico, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 August 2017 at 16:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Las Vegas, New Mexico, United States

Nearest airport

San Miguel Ranch (NM53)

Coordinates

35.4869, -104.5936

Aircraft

Piper PA 22-150

Registration

N3664Z

Category

Airplane

Year built

1960

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Dalhart → Santa Fe

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN17FA315

1 person died.

The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack while maneuvering to land, which resulted in an accelerated stall and the pilot’s subsequent loss of control. Contributing to the accident was the gap in the pilot’s flight experience, his limited recent flight experience, and his limited instruction in the accident airplane.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

**This report was modified on March 15, 2022. Please see the public docket for this accident to view the original report.** The private pilot departed on a cross-country flight in day visual meteorological conditions. When he did not arrive at his destination as planned, a search was initiated, and the airplane was subsequently located in wooded, mountainous terrain near a private airport about 73 miles short of the destination. The orientation of the wreckage was consistent with the airplane impacting terrain following an aerodynamic stall. Examination of the airplane and engine did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation, and there was evidence of fuel at the accident site. The pilot was not in contact with air traffic control during the flight. Radar information showed the airplane maneuvering near the airport before radar contact was lost; the pilot may have been attempting to divert to the airport when the accident occurred. An autopsy of the pilot revealed severe coronary artery disease with 90% stenosis of the left coronary artery as well as evidence of scarring from a previous heart attack. Each of these conditions placed the pilot at significantly increased risk for the sudden development of symptoms from an acute cardiac event. Although the pilot might have decided to divert because he was impaired or incapacitated by the symptoms of an acute cardiac event, this scenario could not be corroborated by any operational evidence. The airplane’s flight track indicated that the pilot maneuvered the airplane into a “bowl” area that included the runway. Afterward, the pilot flew a right downwind leg and turned too closely onto the base leg to complete the base-to-final turn. As a result, the pilot made a 270° left turn inside the rim of the bowl area to align with the runway. As the pilot made the base-to-final turn, he again turned the airplane too closely to complete the turn, most likely because he allowed the bowl area to define the dimensions of the turn. Because of the unnecessary tightness of the turn and the steep bank angle that was required to prevent overshooting the runway, the airplane’s critical angle of attack was exceeded, resulting in an accelerated stall (which has load factors above 1 G and a stall speed higher than the airplane’s 1-G stall speed) and a subsequent loss of control of the airplane. The pilot’s logbook revealed that he logged almost all his 344 hours of total flight experience during or before 2007, with most of those hours logged between 1983 and 1992. Thus, the gap in the pilot’s flight experience, his limited recent flight experience, and the limited instruction that he received after purchasing the accident airplane did not prepare him for the challenges associated with the planned flight or the diversion.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.