Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Durango, Colorado 81301
Saturday, July 5, 2003 14:00 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot said he was climbing through 8,500 feet when the engine began to shake violently. He reduced power to idle and eventually shut the engine down. When the propeller stopped, he noticed one-half inch of one blade's trailing edge had separated. After dropping full flaps, the pilot attempted to make a forced landing on a dirt road but overshot. The airplane collided with two trees next to the road. A wood propeller manufacturer examined the propeller and found no defects or other damage to the propeller.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
partial propeller blade separation for reasons undetermined, and the pilot's misjudgment of distance and altitude during the forced landing approach that resulted in his overshooting the road on intended landing and colliding with trees. A contributing factor was the trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/5/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Durango |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81301 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 371212N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1075202W |
| 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 | 1353 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DRO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6684 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| 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) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 15 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 10307 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14581 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 5 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1445 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 30 2003 8:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N78DR |
| NTSB Number | DEN03LA120 |
| 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 | Conn |
| Aircraft Model | Vans RV-4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 859 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 27 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 23 |
| Airframe Hours | 1406 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Larry D. Miller |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Albuquerque |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 87123 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | 00C |
| Departure City | Durango |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | E98 |
| Destination City | Los Lunas |
| Destination State | NM |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - emergency |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 30 2003 3:19PM |
| 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 | -- |