- Date
- October 4, 2015, 15:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Marble Canyon, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- C-FIIBBushmaster Super Bushmaster
- Defining event
- Approach: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 15, 2016
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- Case key
- 92123
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 failure to maintain descent rate durring the landing resulting in collision with terrain.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
According to the visiting foreign pilot's written statement, while on approach to land at a desert airport, he encountered severe turbulence, was unable to maintain altitude, and the airplane impacted the ground 50 feet short of the runway. The nearest weather reporting station was 12 NM to the north-east, and reported that the wind was 150 degrees true at 13 knots, with gusts to 19. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage and empennage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or anomalies prior to or during the flight that would have prevented normal flight operation.
Factual narrative
According to the visiting foreign pilot's written statement, while on approach to land at a desert airport, he encountered severe turbulence, was unable to maintain altitude, and the airplane impacted the ground 50 feet short of the runway. The nearest weather reporting station was 12 NM to the north-east, and reported that the wind was 150 degrees true at 13 knots, with gusts to 19. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage and empennage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or anomalies prior to or during the flight that would have prevented normal flight operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- C-FIIB
- Reported as
- Bushmaster Super Bushmaster (LS180S)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- BC 001
- Built
- 2011
- Airframe hours
- 290
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Non-U.S., non-commercial
- Operator
- Cameron Bruce Fraser
- Registered owner
- Cameron Bruce Fraser
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 11, 2015
- Departed
- HND · Las Vegas, NV
- Destination
- AZ03 · Marble Canyon, AZ
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- AZ03 · Cliff Dwellers, runway 22, 3,820 × 40 ft, dirt
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 64
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Private, Commercial, Foreign
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Unknown, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 7, 2014
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,400 total · 290 in this make and model · 1,286 as pilot in command · 37 in the last 90 days · 0.1 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 11 knots, gusting 22
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.84 inHg
- Observed at
- PGA, 12 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 24, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.7 MB in all.