Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Phoenix Goodyear Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Buckeye, Arizona 85326
Wednesday, February 1, 2006 15:04 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After crossing flight paths with a military fighter jet, the single engine airplane entered an increasingly steep descent and subsequently impacted terrain. The solo student pilot departed the airport and proceeded to climb towards a designated practice area. Upon reaching 4,500 feet the pilot reduced power and entered a 500-foot-per-minute descent. At this point the pilot may have been alerted by the on-board TCAS (traffic/collision alerting device) that there was traffic approaching from her right side, close to her altitude. The sun was also off her right side at an elevation of 31 degrees above the horizon. Within seconds an F-16 fighter jet crossed in front of her from right to left. The closest point of approach between the two aircraft, as determined by a radar data study, was 1,850 feet laterally and 400 feet vertically. A study of the wake and vortex turbulence that would have been produced by the F-16 determined that the generated vortices could not have dropped low enough to affect the path of the student's airplane. After the F-16 passed, the student's airplane continued an increasingly steep linear descent, eventually exceeding 2,500 feet per minute before impacting the terrain at a 50-degree nose down, right wing down attitude, 29 seconds after the encounter. Multiple close examinations of the aircraft wreckage failed to reveal any evidence of mechanical failure or malfunction. A review of the student's available medical records, autopsy, and toxicology analysis did not reveal any physiological inconsistencies. It is certainly possible (and consistent with the circumstances of the accident) that the student pilot lost consciousness following her presumed near collision; however, there is not enough information available to fully support this hypothesis.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/1/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1504 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Buckeye |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85326 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 331606N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1123527W |
| Event Location Airport | Phoenix Goodyear |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KGYR |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 12 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 968 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1447 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 40 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KGYR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 968 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.96 |
| 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) | 22060 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 2 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 30 2007 12:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO-Scottsdale, Arizona |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1563A |
| NTSB Number | LAX06FA099 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beechcraft |
| Aircraft Model | F33A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | CE-1320 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5 |
| Airframe Hours | 18602 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Airline Training Center Arizona |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1658 Litchfield Rd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Goodyear |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85338 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KBXK |
| Departure City | Buckeye |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1450 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KGYR |
| Destination City | PhoenixGoodyear |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 4 2007 11:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |