Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sierra Blanca, Texas 79851
Wednesday, December 12, 2001 23:30 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, while en route under night visual flight rules the flight encountered clouds. During a maneuver to fly out of the clouds, the airplane impacted the terrain at an estimated elevation of 5,000 feet msl. A helicopter attempted to respond to the accident location, however, a snowstorm suspended their efforts. While sitting in the aircraft prior to departure, the pilot had obtained a weather briefing for a VFR flight. The pilot stated his intended cruising altitude would be 6,000 feet with a possibility of climbing to 9,000 or 10,000 feet. The briefer stated there was an AIRMET for rime icing along the route of flight, to which the pilot responded, "I will be VFR, I will not be in the clouds." The destination extended forecast reported visibility 6 plus statute miles, occasional 3 statute miles visibility, light snow showers, few clouds at 3,000 feet, ceilings at 5,000 broken and 12,000 overcast.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadverent VFR flight into instrument meteorological weather conditions which resulted in an in-flight collision with terrain. Contributing factors were the night light conditions and the clouds.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/12/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2330 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Sierra Blanca |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79851 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 313104N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1052507W |
| 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 | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2251 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ELP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3958 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 45 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12778 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 16 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1745 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 1 2003 4:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4530K |
| NTSB Number | FTW02LA053 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Ryan |
| Aircraft Model | Navion A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | NAV-4-1530 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2850 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lynn R. Lane |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 408 Grace St. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Glen Rose |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76043 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MAF |
| Departure City | Midland |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1900 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ELP |
| Destination City | EL PASO |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 3 2002 12:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |