- Date
- January 5, 1989, 14:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Quemado, NM
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N312BHBumgartner/Hirt Steen Skybolt
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 22, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890105000879A
- Case key
- 17660
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
Failure of the pilot to select a suitable landing strip/area. Factors related to the accident were: high terrain and low ceiling along the route of flight, haze, and the soft condition of the selected landing strip.
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
The private plt was on a x-country flight in his homebuilt acft. He reported that he diverted south of his intended route to avoid weather. He said he noticed the higher elevations along his route were hazy and obscured, so he elected to land near Quemado, new Mexico, on a dirt strip. The plt said that during the landing, the main gear entered soft dirt and he lost directional control. The acft then nosed over and came to rest inverted. The pilot's last FAA med exam in about July 1986.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N312BH
- Reported as
- Bumgartner/Hirt Steen Skybolt (STEEN SKYB)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 231
- Airframe hours
- 150
- Engine
- Continental R-670-5, 220 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hirt, Mark R.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 1, 1988 · 43 hours before
- Departed
- GNT · Grants, NM
- Destination
- SJN · St Johns, AZ
- Airport
- Quemado, runway 23, 5,000 × 25 ft, dirt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 25
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Expired
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 400 total · 105 in this make and model · 380 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 15 knots, gusting 18
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 50 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.