- Date
- May 6, 1983, 20:00 local (May 7, 1983, 03:00 UTC)
- Place
- Buckeye, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N315CCCessna 421B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830506025439A
- Case key
- 23732
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 plt had made 3 night landings at the strip during the past 6 mths. The procedure that had been used for lighting thestrip was to place a vehicle at the west end with the headlights facing east down the centerline of the strip. However, on the night of the accident, the vehicle was parked on the east end of the strip with the headlights facing east out ina field. When approaching from the east, the strip is the last in a series of 3 similarly looking fields. When the plt thought he was at the normal distance from the vehicle headlights, he reduced power and landed short.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N315CC
- Reported as
- Cessna 421B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 421B 0810
- Airframe hours
- 2,100
- Engine
- Continental GTSIO-520-H, 375 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Harquahala Valley Orchards
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 15, 1983 · 30 hours before
- Departed
- GYR · Goodyear, AZ
- Airport
- Harquahala Strip, runway 25, 5,000 × ft, dirt
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
- 52
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 15,346 total · 284 in this make and model · 110 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 270° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 35 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PHX, 50 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.