Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St. George, Utah 84770
Thursday, June 17, 2004 17:46 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Following a fire retardant drop, the airplane pitched nose up about 10 degrees, and then the nose dropped down 45 degrees, and the airplane descended into the ground. Drop altitude was about 100 feet above ground level (agl), and the ground sloped down about 20 degrees throughout the drop zone. The pilot made one practice dry run at his request. On the second pass, the pilot told the tactical air controller that he overshot final, and was going around. On the third pass, the pilot called downwind, base, and final. The pilot made no other transmissions, and did not indicate that he was having any problems. Witnesses saw the retardant exit the airplane; however, the drop was not at the desired point, and not distributed in an even line as the pilot's previous drops had been. The drop angled about 10 degrees to the final approach course. The drop pattern was wide and heavy at the beginning, and narrow and thin at the end. This indicated that the pilot initiated the drop early while turning onto final. About 2 seconds after the drop, the nose of the airplane pitched up slightly, which was normal after a drop. The nose of the airplane then pitched down about 45 degrees. The airplane maintained this attitude until ground impact. A prominent bend of the propeller shaft and a twist in the vertical splines indicated that the engine was generating high power. Post flight examination of the wreckage did not reveal any anomalies with the flight control system. Stall speeds with vortex generators installed varied from 73 mph in the clean configuration to 72 mph with full flaps. Drop techniques, airspeed, and flap settings varied among Dromadier pilots. Some pilots flew at airspeeds of 85 to 90 mph to lesson the pitch up on pull out. The M-18 operator's manual indicated that, with the sudden shift in CG at retardant release, the airplane would pitch up, and airspeed could decrease as much as 12 mph.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed margin, resulting in a stall and loss of control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/17/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1746 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | St. George |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84770 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 371934N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1133681W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1755 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SGU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2941 |
| 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) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.89 |
| 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) | 21948 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 17 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2052 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 25 2007 12:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | SLC FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8214J |
| NTSB Number | LAX04GA243 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | WSK PZL Mielec |
| Aircraft Model | M-18A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1Z020-21 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 11700 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| 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 | 1500 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | New Frontier Aviation, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 134 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Benton |
| Aircraft Owner State | MT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 59442 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Bureau of Land Management, Aviation Office |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3833 S. Development Ave. |
| Operator City | Boise |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 83705 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SGU |
| Departure City | St. George |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1730 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering - aerial application |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 18 2007 5:27PM |
| 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 | -- |