Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 11:15 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot’s initial plan was to make the cross-country flight on the day before the flight actually took place. But, since the weather briefing he received forecast clouds, precipitation, and icing conditions along much of the route, the pilot elected not to attempt the flight but instead decided to wait until the next day. Although the weather briefer advised the pilot that the conditions he had described would still be present along the route of flight the next day, including areas of clouds, low ceilings, precipitation, icing conditions, snow, and thunderstorms, the pilot did not call back for an update briefing on the day of the flight, and he did not receive a weather briefing from either of the Direct User Access Terminal Service providers. It is possible that he may have accessed some raw weather data from a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration website before departing for his planned destination. Overlaying the airplane’s radar track on weather radar imagery indicated that, about 30 minutes after departure, the pilot encountered the edge of the forecast weather conditions, entering an area of precipitation where supercooled liquid droplets had been forecast. This most likely resulted in a very rapid accumulation of ice on the airplane’s structure, including its wings and horizontal stabilizer. Soon thereafter, the airplane entered a steep uncontrolled descent, during which the outboard section of the right wing separated as it was stressed beyond the design limitations of the airplane. The airplane continued in a near vertical uncontrolled descent and impacted the terrain with a high amount of energy. Postaccident examination of the airframe, flight controls, and the engine did not find any evidence of a preexisting anomaly.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s decision to continue flight into an area of known adverse weather, which resulted in an accumulation of structural ice that led to a loss of control and in-flight breakup. Also causal was the pilot’s inadequate preflight weather planning.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/18/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1115 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rock Springs |
| Event State | WYOMING |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 82901 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 421025N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1084726w |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 1154 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 235 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRKS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6760 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1900 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 22 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.62 |
| 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) | 30399 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2012 3:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | snyg |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N93577 |
| NTSB Number | WPR11FA228 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| 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 | BELLANCA |
| Aircraft Model | 17-30A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 73-30591 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3325 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 18 2010 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 4632 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MICKEY GILMER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ENGLEWOOD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80112-2507 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | MICKEY GILMER |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | ENGLEWOOD |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 80112-2507 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | KPNA |
| Departure City | Pinedale |
| Departure State | WY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1038 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KFNL |
| Destination City | Fort Collins |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 13 2012 12:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |