Gmk Ventures AL18 N17GK

Summary

On 27 June 2022 at about 20:00 local time, a Gmk Ventures AL18 registered N17GK, operated by GMK Ventures LLC, was involved in an accident near Moab, Utah, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 June 2022 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Moab, Utah, United States

Nearest airport

Canyonlands Rgnl (CNY)

Coordinates

38.7576, -109.7535

Aircraft

Gmk Ventures AL18

Registration

N17GK

Category

Airplane

Year built

2020

Engines

1

Operator

GMK Ventures LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Twin Falls → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR22LA233

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during a landing attempt, which resulted in a ground loop and collision with terrain. Contributing to the accident was the absence of an airspeed indicator due to an alternator failure.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that, he experienced an alternator failure approximately 47 minutes from his destination airport. He switched to a backup battery, but within 2 minutes the entire electrical system shut down, which included a loss of his airspeed and altitude indicators. When he reached the airport, he intentionally flew fast to provide a buffer against stalling the airplane as he was in high density altitude conditions. While over the runway at about 5 ft above ground level, he overflew the runway at the same altitude to bleed off excess airspeed. As the airplane decelerated the pilot was unable to determine when the airplane would touchdown due to the loss of his airspeed indicator. According to the pilot, the right main landing gear touched down first followed by the left main landing gear, at which point the airplane began to ground loop. The left elevator impacted a runway light, which resulted in substantial damage to the airplane. The pilot report no other preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.