- Date
- June 12, 1997, 11:45 local (18:45 UTC)
- Place
- Salome, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5653CMaule M-6-235
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 26, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970612013869A
- Case key
- 29810
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 inadequate compensation for wind conditions, and his failure to maintain directional control of the aircraft. The gusty crosswind condition was a related factor.
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 pilot reported that he was landing on runway 27, when the aircraft encountered a strong crosswind gust from the southwest and ground looped. He estimated the winds were from 200 degrees at 20 knots with occasional gusts to 30 knots.
Factual narrative
On June 12, 1997, at 1145 hours mountain standard time, a Maule M-6-235, N5653C, ground looped on landing at a private airstrip near Salome, Arizona. The aircraft was owned and operated by the pilot and was on a local area personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. The airline transport pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight is believed to have originated at Salome on the morning of the accident at an undetermined time.
In a verbal statement to Federal Aviation Administration inspectors from the Scottsdale, Arizona, Flight Standards District Office, the pilot reported that he was landing on runway 27 when a strong crosswind gust from the southwest came up and the aircraft ground looped. The pilot estimated the winds at the time as from 200 degrees at 20 knots with occasional gusts to 30.
The pilot did not respond to repeated requests to complete a pilot/operator aircraft accident report.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5653C
- Reported as
- Maule M-6-235
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7457C
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Bary J. Sima
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 2AZ1
- Airport
- 2AZ1 · Private Airstrip, runway 27, 2,200 × 40 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
- 52
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 17,600 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 20 knots, gusting 30
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 97 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BLH, 48 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.