Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Goldfield Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Goldfield, Nevada 89013
Saturday, June 8, 2002 12:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot loaded the airplane to within 200 pounds of its maximum certificated gross weight. He then attempted to depart from a gravel airstrip at an elevation of 5,680 feet mean sea level. The calculated density altitude was over 8,000 feet. The airplane became airborne after the pilot rotated at 60 knots during the short field takeoff. Upon climbing about 100 feet above ground level the pilot retracted the wing flaps. Immediately thereafter, the airplane suddenly rolled left, lost airspeed, and settled into the ground coming to rest about 0.79 miles from the field. The pilot opined that, although the wind was calm upon initiating the takeoff, he had experienced a wind gust and turbulence that caused the airplane to roll violently to the left. The pilot acknowledged that, thereafter, he was able to level the airplane's wings although the airspeed had decreased and the airplane was settling. Regarding the pilot's experience, he reported that he did not have any previous experience taking off from the Goldfield Airport under these combined high density altitude and gross weight conditions.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a high density altitude takeoff. Contributing factors were the pilot's lack of experience in the type of operation and a wind gust.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/8/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1200 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Goldfield |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89013 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 374352N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1171416W |
| Event Location Airport | GOLDFIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 0L5 |
| 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 | 348 |
| Airport Elevation | 5680 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1156 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 4 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TPH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5426 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.79 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8000 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 4 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14056 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 8 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1421 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 30 2003 9:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO Las Vegas, NV |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N480DW |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA192 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172S |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 172S9044 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 23 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 27 |
| Airframe Hours | 152 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Sawyer Aviation Training Center, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Scottsdale Airpark, 15041 North Airport Dr. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Scottsdale |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85260 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 0L5 |
| Departure City | Goldfield |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1200 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | VGT |
| Destination City | North Las Vegas |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2003 6:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 35 |
| Runway Length | 3150 |
| Runway Width | 37 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |