- Date
- August 25, 2007, 19:40 local (Aug 26, 2007, 01:40 UTC)
- Place
- Taos, NM
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N7068UAdams Airborne Australia O
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 20, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20070825018099A
- Case key
- 66513
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's intentional low altitude flight in a confined area and an inadvertent stall/spin. Contributing factors in this accident were the blind/box canyon and the aircraft's low airspeed.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Several hikers saw the airplane fly past them at low altitude and into a gorge. They videotaped the pilot waving at them. They said the airplane disappeared below the lip of the gorge, and then they heard the sound of impact. Several hikers climbed down the canyon wall and proceeded to the wreckage while others notified authorities. The accident site was approximately 300 feet above the canyon floor. Examination of the airplane revealed it was either turning or spinning at the moment of impact. Flight control continuity was established and no systems anomalies were noted. Another pilot said he noticed mountain wave-type winds in that area of the canyon, making turbulence likely. The accident pilot had flown in the canyon before, and was known to fly at low airspeeds and altitudes. The pilot had been warned by other pilots that it was not safe to fly in the canyon in a light aircraft.
Factual narrative
On August 25, 2007, approximately 1940 mountain daylight time, an Adams' Airborne Australia Outback Wizard 3, N7068U, piloted by a non-certificated pilot, was destroyed when it struck a canyon wall while maneuvering on the west side of the Rio Pueblo Canyon, nine mile southwest of Taos, New Mexico. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot, the sole occupant aboard, was fatally injured. The local flight originated from the pilot's private airstrip near Taos at an undetermined time.
An FAA Aviation Safety Inspector went to the accident site. According to his report (FAA Form 8020-23), the airplane flew past some hikers in the Taos Gorge at low altitude and they videotaped the pilot waving
at them. They said the airplane disappeared below the lip of the gorge, and then they heard the sound of impact. Several hikers climbed down the canyon wall and proceeded to the wreckage while others notified authorities. The accident site was at the end of County Road 110, approximately 300 feet above the canyon floor. The inspector said his examination of the airplane revealed it was either turning or spinning at the moment of impact. Flight control continuity was established and no systems anomalies were noted. The FAA inspector's report indicated the pilot had been warned by other pilots that it was not safe to fly in the canyon in a light aircraft. Another pilot said he noticed mountain wave-type winds in that area of the canyon, making turbulence likely. The accident pilot had flown in the canyon before, and was known to fly at low airspeeds and altitudes.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7068U
- Reported as
- Adams Airborne Australia O
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 582-691
- Airframe hours
- 111
- Engine
- Rotax 582DC, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Paul R. Adams
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- NONE · Taos, NM
- Destination
- NONE
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 71
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Seat
- Front
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 100 total · 100 in this make and model · 40 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.19 inHg
- Observed at
- SKX
Docket · 8
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 8, 2007, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.5 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.