Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Townsend Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Winston, Montana 59647
Sunday, June 3, 2007 10:45 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane stalled and impacted terrain during flight in a canyon at low altitude and a slow airspeed. The pilot was participating in a mountain flying seminar and was flying with a CFI. The purpose of the flight was instructional in nature intending to practice short canyon turns. They flew the first canyon at 300 feet agl, 70 mph, 20 degrees of flaps, along the south side of the canyon, and rode a few thermals. Identifying areas where thermal lift could be found was part of the instructional flight. He then crossed into another canyon that was full of burned out terrain and dead fall trees. This canyon he flew at 300 to 350 feet agl, 60 to 65 mph, and full flaps. The pilot angled his plane towards a rock cliff expecting to pickup thermal lift from the warm rocks. He flew with the wing tip about 10 feet from the cliff. The climb stopped, the airspeed fell off, and the wing stalled. He turned left, applied full throttle, and lowered the nose of the airplane. The descent was rapid as he tried to direct the airplane between deadfall trees into a drainage gully. The airplane's descent continued and he tried to land the airplane as gently as he could. After the collision with the sloped terrain, both pilots egressed the airplane just before it was engulfed in flames. The pilot stated that the airplane and engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions during the flight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed while maneuvering at low altitude in a canyon that led to a stall. The pilot's decision to fly along the canyon wall at a low altitude and low energy state was a factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/3/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1045 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Winston |
| Event State | MONTANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 59647 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 462400N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1114500W |
| Event Location Airport | Townsend |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 8U8 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 16 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| 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 | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 40 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | -- |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21904 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 3 2007 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 | Montana FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N246AM |
| NTSB Number | LAX07CA187 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aviat |
| Aircraft Model | Husky A1-B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2246 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jon C Kantorowicz |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Jon C Kantorowicz |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Great Falls |
| Operator State | MT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 8U8 |
| Departure City | Townsend |
| Departure State | MT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 10 2007 6:24PM |
| 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 | -- |