Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pitken County/Sardy Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Aspen, Colorado 81611
Wednesday, August 4, 2004 14:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor was giving a sales demonstration flight to the pilot, a potential customer. The instructor said the pilot "was fully aware that I was an instructor and that he would relinquish control of the aircraft at any time that I stated that it was my aircraft." The flight to their destination was uneventful. As they made their approach, they were advised that the wind was from 330 degrees at 10 knots, gusts to 15 knots, and low-level wind shear. They extended their downwind leg and made a 360-degree turn to lose altitude. When they turned onto the final approach to runway 15, the PAPI (precision approach path indicator) lights indicated a "normal Mooney approach": descent rate was 400 feet per minute, and indicated airspeed was 90 knots. Due to the tail wind, they crossed the runway threshold "a little high" and fast. About 12 feet above the runway, the pilot raised the aircraft nose to flare for landing. Airspeed dropped rapidly and the instructor told the pilot to relinquish aircraft control and tried to push the control yoke forward. The pilot interpreted the instructor's control inputs as an attempt in helping him to land. The pilot continued to raise the nose and the stall warning horn sounded. As the pilot held the nose high attitude, the instructor applied full power "to keep the nose from falling over from the impending stall." The tail struck the runway and the airplane bounced, then the propeller struck the runway, stopping the engine. The airplane coasted off the runway onto a taxiway.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane. Contributing factors was the pilot flaring the airplane too high, his misunderstanding of the instructor's attempt to take control of the airplane. and the instructor's inadequate supervision of the pilot.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/4/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1430 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Aspen |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81611 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391323N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1065208W |
| Event Location Airport | Pitken County/Sardy Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ASE |
| 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 | 7815 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ASE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 7815 |
| 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) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 16 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.3 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 10843 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20821 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 4 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1639 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2007 9:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Denver, Colorado |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4157 |
| NTSB Number | DEN04LA116 |
| 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 | Mooney |
| Aircraft Model | M20R |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 29-0219 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3368 |
| 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 | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Champion Equipment Leasing LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1000 Uptown Park Blvd., Suite 211 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Houston |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77056 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SJT |
| Departure City | San Angelo |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | ASE |
| Destination City | Aspen |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 2 2007 9:18AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 15 |
| Runway Length | 7006 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |