Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Cottonwood Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cottonwood, Arizona 86326
Wednesday, May 20, 1992 17:45 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT, THE NON-CERTIFICATED STUDENT PILOT FUELED THE AIRPLANE FROM A 5-GALLON CONTAINER WITH AUTOMOTIVE FUEL. HE THEN INVITED A CERTIFICATED PILOT TO ACCOMPANY HIM ON A LOCAL AREA FLIGHT. WITNESSES OBSERVED THE AIRPLANE DEPART AND APPEARED TO CLIMB SLOWLY AT A SLOW AIRSPEED. DURING A LEFT TURN AFTER DEPARTURE, OTHER WITNESS HEARD THE ENGINE RUNNING ROUGH, SPUTTERING, AND THEN QUIT RUNNING. THE AIRPLANE THEN BANKED TO THE RIGHT AND DESCENDED IN A NEAR VERTICAL ATTITUDE, STRIKING A CEDAR TREE AND MOBILE HOME. THE AIRPLANE WAS CONSUMED BY A POST CRASH FIRE. EXAMINATION OF THE LEFT FUEL TANK THAT WAS NOT DAMAGED BY FIRE, REVEALED THE PRESENCE OF OVER A QUART OF WATER. THE INTERIOR FILLER NECK AND FUEL CAP HAD EVIDENCE OF RUST.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A FAILURE OF THE STUDENT PILOT TO CONDUCT AN ADEQUATE PRE-FLIGHT INSPECTION TO REMOVE CONTAMINATED FUEL; A FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED TO PREVENT AN INADVERTENT STALL. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS AN INADEQUATE ANNUAL INSPECTION OF THE FUEL SYSTEM TO DETECT A LEAKING FUEL CAP, AND INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF THE FLIGHT BY THE PILOT-INCOMMAND.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/20/1992 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1745 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | COTTONWOOD |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86326 |
| Event Date Year | 1992 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | COTTONWOOD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | P52 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 110 |
| Airport Elevation | 3550 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1755 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 243 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PRC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5042 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2540 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 20 1992 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1835 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 47372 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 2:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N191P |
| NTSB Number | LAX92FA212 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 150 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 150 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17704 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 13 1992 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 26 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CROZIER, RORY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 2375 |
| Aircraft Owner City | CAMP VERDE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 86322 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | MANION, BERNARD |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3824 DEL RIO DR. |
| Operator City | COTTONWOOD |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 86326 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | P52 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1745 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | P52 |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 14 |
| Runway Length | 4250 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |