Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Palmer Lake, Colorado 80133
Saturday, October 27, 2001 20:06 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot departed Centennial Airport (elevation 5,883 feet) VFR to practice multiple instrument approaches at night. He told his wife that he would turn the cockpit lights up bright to facilitate instrument training. After two ILS approaches, he requested, from ATC, two turns in the holding pattern before flying additional approaches. The ATC controller cleared him for the practice holding, and assigned him to fly at 9,000 feet. During the inbound track (347 degrees), radar data indicated that the airplane descended from its assigned altitude to 7,600 feet with no ATC intervention. Next, the pilot requested to depart the initial approach fix to the southeast for approximately 15 nm at 8,500 feet. The ATC controller cleared the request, but didn't terminate radar services. The pilot flew south for approximately 8nm, then turned to 210 degrees. He impacted the mountain approximately 5 minutes later.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot intentionally restricting his external vision (turning his cabin lights up bright to practice night instrument approaches), and his subsequent failure to maintain clearance of the mountain. A contributing factor was the Air Traffic Controller’s failure to provide appropriate safety alerts for rising terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/27/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2006 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Palmer Lake |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80133 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391028N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1045814W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1953 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 20 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | APA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5883 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.18 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 9561 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13755 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 28 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2003 8:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Denver, CO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N45E |
| NTSB Number | DEN02FA004 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | T337G |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | P3370136 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4700 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 11 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 87 |
| Airframe Hours | 5585 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Leo J. Miller |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Evergreen |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80439 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | APA |
| Departure City | Centennial Arpt |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1905 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 4 2003 1:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |