Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mountain City, Nevada 89831
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 10:50 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane impacted trees and terrain while presumably maneuvering toward a rapidly rising mountain ridgeline. The pilot was last seen refueling his airplane at the departure airport. After failing to arrive at his intended destination, an Alert Notice (ALNOT) was issued and search efforts were initiated. There were no air traffic control services rendered to the pilot and no radar data was available for the accident flight. The wreckage was located almost 2 months after the accident, with the pilot and passenger still on board. The airplane came to rest at the base of a stand of trees following a nose down, near vertical descent profile, which resulted in the aft crushing of the cockpit/cabin area. A pine tree, measuring about 8 inches in circumference, was located underneath and adjacent to the wreckage, and was cut into 36-inch logs, indicating an operative engine/rotating propeller. Plotting of the accident site on a topographic map indicated that the wreckage was located about 400 feet below a 9,000- to 9,300-foot ridgeline. The wreckage came to rest below a small gap in the rapidly rising ridgeline. A valley led to the rising ridge, and from the valley to the accident site, the average grade was 22 percent. From the accident site to the top of the ridge was an average grade of 20 percent.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering in mountainous terrain, which led to a stall and impact with trees and terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/31/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1050 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Mountain City |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89831 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 414600N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1151900W |
| 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 | 1056 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 192 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EKO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 68 |
| 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 | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.22 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21888 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 31 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| 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 | Reno, Nevada |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2333J |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA324 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | Y |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-18-150 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18-7909106 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1700 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Roy Grossman |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Napa |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94558 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 06U |
| Departure City | Jackpot |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1030 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 0O5 |
| Destination City | Davis |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Unknown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 12 2007 11:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| 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 | -- |