- Date
- August 28, 2004, 17:30 local (Aug 29, 2004, 00:30 UTC)
- Place
- Rio Vista, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4358ZQuicksilver MXL II
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 3, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20040828035239A
- Case key
- 60007
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 adequate clearance from high vegetation while flying at a low altitude.
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 light experimental airplane was flying northbound a few feet above an unused levee dirt road and the right wingtip struck a stand of high bamboo growing along the east side of the road. The airplane then hit the road, skidded off the road, and into some large rocks along the levee. Both occupants were uninjured, and able to extract themselves out of the wreckage.
Factual narrative
On August 28, 2004, about 1730 Pacific daylight time, an experimental Quicksilver MXL II, N4358Z, collided with high vegetation and impacted terrain while flying at low altitude, 3 miles north of Rio Vista, California. The owner was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot and passenger were not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The local area personal flight originated at the Rio Vista airport about 1710.
The pilot stated in the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report (NTSB Form 6120.1/2) that he was flying northbound a few feet above an unused levee dirt road. The right wingtip struck a stand of high bamboo growing along the east side of the road. The airplane then hit the road, skidded off the road, and into some large rocks along the levee. Both occupants were able to extract themselves out of the wreckage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4358Z
- Reported as
- Quicksilver MXL II
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 243
- Engine
- Rotax 582, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Joel E Carey
- Registered owner
- Joel E Carey
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- KO88 · Rio Vista, CA
- Destination
- KO88 · Rio Vista, CA
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
- 65
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 2,000 total · 300 in this make and model · 33 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.