- Date
- February 16, 1987, 18:15 local (Feb 17, 1987, 01:15 UTC)
- Place
- Sedona, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N161ACessna 310G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report November 8, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870216004459A
- Case key
- 25534
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 acft landed hard on rwy 3 while on a night VFR pleasure flight. The plt indicated that it was a dark night and he elected to fly the nda-a iap to insure terrain clearance while looking for the rwy. While on final apch he activated the mirl on the traffic advisory freq. The plt stated, 'the lights appeared to be dim and the landing lights did not illuminate the rwy surface.' The plt adjusted the acft pitch attitude to a slight nose up and added power. The plt state that the landing was 'sufficiently hard to damage the internal wing structure of the acft.' The plt was required to wear corrective lenses for distant vision and possess corrective lenses for near vision. The plt's night visual acuity is degraded by the physiological aspect of his vision. This aspect being the need for corrective lenses. The effects of alt, hypoxia, will have an impact on night vision. Deterioration in night vision can occur at cabin pressure alts as low as 5,000 ft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N161A
- Reported as
- Cessna 310G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3100022
- Airframe hours
- 4,435
- Engine
- Lycoming TI0-540, 290 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Aircraft Development Corp.
- Registered owner
- Aircraft Development Corp.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 22, 1986 · 42 hours before
- Departed
- PHX · Phoenix, AZ
- Destination
- SEZ · Sedona, AZ
- Airport
- SEZ · Sedona, runway 3, 5,135 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 76
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,142 total · 3,500 in this make and model · 4,000 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 310° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- FLG, 18 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.
Other investigations on N161A · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.