Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Warren, Idaho 83671
Tuesady, August 5, 2014 13:35 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On August 5, 2014, about 1335 Pacific daylight time (PDT), an experimental David Fitzgerald, Zenith CH750, N32FZ, crashed in mountainous terrain in the wilderness area of Warren, Idaho. The owner/pilot was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The sport pilot and passenger were fatally injured; the airplane was destroyed by impact forces. The cross-country personal flight departed Big Creek, Idaho, about 1440, with a planned destination of Dixie, Idaho. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
The pilot was in possession of a personal Spot GPS satellite tracker unit. When the pilot failed to check in with his family, they logged into the Spot tracker system and determined the last tracker location. The family contacted the Idaho County Sheriff's department who initiated a search and rescue. The FAA issued a family concern ALNOT on August 5, 2014, at 2326 MDT.
The airplane wreckage was located on August 6, 2014, adjacent to the last reported tracker location.
A review of the Spot tracker data indicated the following times and locations of the flight on the day of the accident.
The pilot and passenger had departed on the third day of the multi-day flight into the back country of Idaho. On the day of the accident they had departed from Sulphur Creek Ranch Airport, (ID74), Cascade, Idaho, at about 1100 MDT.
At 1129 MDT, the flight landed at Upper Loon Creek airstrip (U72), and departed at 1149 MDT.
At 1209 MDT, the flight landed at Lower Loon Creek airstrip (C53), and departed at 1309 MDT.
At 1419 MDT, the flight landed at Big Creek airstrip (U60), and departed at 1439 MDT. U60 is located 5 NM southeast of the accident site.
The Spot tracker is configured such that while in tracking mode, the unit sends location information every 10 minutes unless the position is stationary, then it defaults to every 60 minutes.
At 1600 MDT, the first track point was recorded located at the accident site. The track points continued to be recorded in the area of the accident site until 2230 MDT when the batteries were depleted.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
Investigators examined the wreckage at the accident scene. The accident site was located in a remote area of the Payette National Forest. The wreckage was located in the center of a previous wild land fire area of 70- to 80-foot tall trees of which most were dead. The wreckage site was on a 20- to 25-degree slope facing south. The first identified point of contact (FIPC) was a tree that had impact damage about 33 feet up from the base of the tree and was uprooted and lying within the main wreckage. The main wreckage was located 33 feet from where the base of the tree had been uprooted. The debris path was along a magnetic heading of 200 degrees. The orientation of the fuselage was 260 degrees.
The right wing had been separated from the fuselage and was lying across the tail section. The left wing was still attached to the fuselage and had impact damage to the leading edge of the outboard section of the wing.
Flight control continuity could not be positively verified as a result of the impact damage. All control connections that were noted were intact and secured to their respective attachment points. Severe damage to the cockpit precluded any further detailed examination.
The airplane was equipped with a Dynon Skyview multi-function display system, which was recovered for further examination.
The accident site had a strong odor of aviation fuel. The fuel sump was intact, and fuel was present when it was opened. There was no contamination found in the fuel sump bowl.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/5/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1335 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | WARREN |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83671 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 451237N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1152134W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2051 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 239 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KMYL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5020 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 37 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.07 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KMYL 052051Z AUTO 34009KT 10SM CLR 29/02 A30 |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NWM 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 | Aug 14 2014 1:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | hogd |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N32FZ |
| NTSB Number | WPR14FA330 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | DAVID FITZGERALD |
| Aircraft Model | ZENITH |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | CH750 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FITZGERALD DAVID |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | SALT LAKE CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 841194114 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | FITZGERALD DAVID |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | SALT LAKE CITY |
| Operator State | UT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 841194114 |
| 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 | U60 |
| Departure City | Big Creek |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1439 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | A05 |
| Destination City | Dixie |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 11 2014 5:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | jonp |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |