Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Culberson County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Van Horn, Texas 79855
Thursday, July 17, 2008 8:40 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The private pilot positioned the landing gear handle to the "gear down" position in preparation for landing. The gear did not extend and the circuit breaker popped. His attempts to reset the circuit was unsuccessful. The pilot then turned toward an unpopulated, desert area and attempted to lower the landing gear through the hand pump. There was no pressure on the pump handle and it was determined that the hydraulic reservoir was low. The pilot, with the assistance of his passenger, opened the reservoir and added water to regain pressure and extend the landing gear. The gear appeared to be down with a visual check but there was no "down and locked" indication on the instrument panel. The pilot diverted his attention inside the cockpit in an attempt to troubleshoot the system. During this time, the airplane impacted the ground in a near level attitude. The nose gear was torn off, the propeller was damaged, and the left wing was substantially damaged. The airplane came to rest in the upright position. The pilot and his passenger were not injured and were able to egress unassisted. The pilot stated in the Pilot/Operator Report that the accident could have been prevented if he had remembered to keep flying the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain altitude due to his diverted attention. Contributing to the accident was complications manually extending the landing gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/17/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 840 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Van Horn |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79855 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 310736N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1044352W |
| Event Location Airport | Culberson County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KVHN |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 8 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 3957 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 851 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KGDP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5453 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.22 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KGDP 171451Z AUTO 25004KT 10SM CLR 21/15 A3022 RMK |
| 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) | 24311 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Regional Operations Center FTW |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 21 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 26 2008 6:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albuquerque, NM |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6882B |
| NTSB Number | DFW08CA191 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | T210M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21062850 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 105 |
| Airframe Hours | 4900 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James F. Dyer III |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | HC 74 Box 146 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Davis |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 79734 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | NONE |
| Departure City | Fort Davis |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 815 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | KVHN |
| Destination City | Van Horn |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 12 2008 2:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | GAMW |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |