Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chambers, Arizona 86502
Saturday, June 29, 2002 21:24 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a nighttime cross-country flight in clear visual meteorological conditions, the airplane departed from controlled flight and broke up during a steep high speed descent. Wreckage was located over a 1,650-foot-long southerly path about 0.4 miles from the last recorded radar position, with the right wing and right stabalator found early in the debris field. The pilot had awakened at 0600 and reported for work at 0750, and he had flown five contract flights dispersing fire retardant chemical on wildfires for a total of 7.4 flight hours on the day of the accident. Upon completing his last flight about 1900, the pilot was overheard stating "we had a tough one today." He then laid his head down on the airplane's wing and said, "dang I'm tired." A second associate reported that the pilot had experienced difficulty completing the required end of day paperwork, making arithmetic errors during simple addition calculations. This associate thought the pilot was tired and "mentally exhausted." The pilot told this associate that he was going to spend the night in a local hotel, but instead he departed about 2022. The pilot requested and received VFR radar flight following service, and at no time did the pilot indicate he was experiencing any difficulties or request assistance. Following about an hour of cruise flight at 10,500 feet, during the last 19 seconds of radar-recorded flight, the airplane's average ground track changed from 241 degrees to 170 degrees, while its altitude increased from 10,900 to 11,000 feet. There were no further altitude readouts. The airplane broke apart in flight and impacted flat, desert terrain at an altitude of about 6,200 feet mean sea level. The right wing spar fractures were positive overload failures and evidence shows that it separated and impacted the right stabilizer, which also then separated.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's loss of airplane control after falling asleep due to fatigue, which resulted in a structural failure of the airframe during a high speed descent after the design stress limits of the aircraft were exceeded.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/29/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2124 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Chambers |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86502 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 345224N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1091939W |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2054 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 176 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SJN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5736 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.13 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 18287 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 30 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 830 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 13 2005 12:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Scottsdale, AZ |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5856C |
| NTSB Number | LAX02FA210 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | C35 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-2808 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2700 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 20 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 8 |
| Airframe Hours | 4429 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | David Kerr |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Buckeye |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85326 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | William C. Wood |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Buckeye |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 85326 |
| 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 | AEG |
| Departure City | Albuquerque |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2022 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 10AZ |
| Destination City | Buckeye |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 12 2005 5:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |