- Date
- January 2, 1984, 12:20 local (19:20 UTC)
- Place
- Bowie, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N1050GYaple, Robert G. VARI-EZE
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840102000069A
- Case key
- 23925
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
Despite 2 wx briefings forecasting marginal VFR conditions with reports of icing, the plt departed on a flt in the non-ifr equipped acft. Just prior to the accident, transmissions between the plt & ATC indicated that the acft was in a snow shower between cloud layers at 13,500 ft & was attempting to climb to VFR conditions. Subsequently, the acft broke up in flt & the wreckage was distributed over a 2 mi area. No evidence was found of a mechanical malfunction or failure prior to the in-flt breakup. A meteorological summary determined that icing of at least moderate intensity would have occurred from 6000 to 14,000 ft. the plt had been away from home for over 2 weeks & had experienced several wx related delays in the previous 2 days. A friend reported that he was scheduled to return to work & that the passenger(his son) had to return to school the following day.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1050G
- Reported as
- Yaple, Robert G. VARI-EZE
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 727
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-F2B, 125 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Donald Reidel Stith
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- LRU · Las Cruces, NM
- Destination
- MYF · San Diego, CA
- Airport
- E54 · Bowie
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
- 49
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 513 total · 203 in this make and model · 340 as pilot in command · 28 in the last 90 days · 17 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 800 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TUS, 75 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.