Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Reserve Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Reserve, New Mexico 87830
Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Takeoff was from runway 24. The wind was from 210 degrees at 10 to 12 knots. The pilot said that after the airplane lifted off and climbed above tree level, he encountered a "severe wind gust (right quartering tail wind) from approximately 040 degrees [of] at least 20+ knots." He said the airplane lost lift and was blown off runway centerline. He tried to "stabilize the [air]plane but with [the] loss of lift, [it] impacted [the] ground hard, [with the] nose and left wing, [and] flipped [over]." The airplane caught fire and was totally consumed. Airport elevation is 6,360 feet msl. Runway 06-24 is 4,800 feet long and 50 feet wide, and made of asphalt. Runway 24 has a 1.9 per cent uphill gradient. The pilot estimated his useful load to be 898 pounds and that the airplane weighed approximately 2,430 pounds. Gross weight is 2,550 pounds and empty weight is 1,540 pounds. According to the U.S. Forest Service ranger station, located approximately 5 miles east of the airport, the temperature was 53 degrees F. FAA calculated the density altitude to be between 6,900 and 7,300 feet. The pilot had been certificated for about six weeks, and had minimal high density altitude experience.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's loss of aircraft control, resulting in an inadvertent stall. Contributing factors in this accident were the sudden windshift to a gusting tailwind, an uphill runway, high density altitude, the pilot's failure to use all available runwayt, and his lack of experience in high altitude airport operations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/17/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Reserve |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 87830 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 334165N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1085097W |
| Event Location Airport | Reserve |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | T16 |
| 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 | 6360 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1230 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 140 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SVC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5446 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 90 |
| 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) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 22 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.09 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24181 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ANM ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 17 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 28 2008 3:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6260J |
| NTSB Number | DEN08LA079 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7690385 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 140 |
| Airframe Hours | 2198 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Mexican Air, LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1918 N. Forest |
| Aircraft Owner City | Mesa |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85203 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | T16 |
| Departure City | Reserve |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1230 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FFZ |
| Destination City | Mesa |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 22 2008 9:32AM |
| User who most recently changed record | BOWL |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 24 |
| Runway Length | 4800 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |