Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mckeever Private Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Thermal, California 92274
Sunday, March 14, 2004 14:00 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane settled into brush and hit terrain during a go-around. The pilot had successfully completed landings to his private dirt strip prior to the accident. On final approach with 20 degrees of flaps, he noted that the airplane was higher than normal. About 700 feet down the runway, the wheels touched down on the soft dirt. He aborted the landing instead of applying heavy brake pressure. Without retracting the flaps, he climbed to about 100 feet and made a turn to the left. The airplane began to lose altitude and he continued his turn to the left. After completing a 180-degree turn, he leveled out the airplane and lowered the nose, in an effort to regain airspeed. The sink rate continued, and the main landing gear encountered high brush. He thought that the high density altitude was the reason the airplane could not produce enough power to climb. He reported the temperature to be about 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The pilot did not report any mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to retract the flaps during the go-around and his failure to obtain and maintain sufficient airspeed, which led to a stall mush condition. High density altitude was a contributing factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/14/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Thermal |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92274 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 333741N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1160937W |
| Event Location Airport | McKeever Private |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NONE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15555 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 14 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1817 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2004 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RAL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8287X |
| NTSB Number | LAX04CA157 |
| 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 | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17248787 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jesse McKeever |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Indio |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | L64 |
| Departure City | Desert Center |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Thermal |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Go-around (VFR) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2004 6:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |