- Date
- March 15, 2024, 13:20 local (19:20 UTC)
- Place
- Rawlins, WY
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N43373Zenith Zodiac CH601
- Defining event
- Maneuvering-low-alt flying: Low altitude operation/event
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20240315005219A
- Case key
- 193961
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 student pilot’s failure to see and avoid powerlines during an unstabilized approach, which resulted the airplane landing short of the runway and coming to rest inverted.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The student pilot stated that the purpose of the flight was for him to perform touch-and-go takeoffs and landings flying solo. After a normal takeoff, he configured the airplane on the final approach leg of the traffic pattern with the engine operating at 1,700 rpm and a descent rate of approximately 500 ft/min descent while maintaining an airspeed of about 75 kt airspeed. He noticed the precision approach position indicator (PAPI) lights showed 3 white and 1 red (indicating he was slightly high on the approach path), and in response, maneuvered the airplane in a more nose-up attitude. As he proceeded on the final approach path, the fuselage collided with powerlines that were oriented perpendicular to the runway and about 300 ft from the threshold. The nose dropped and the pilot attempted to flare. The main landing gear touched down short of the runway threshold and then the nose gear settled into soft mud. The airplane nosed-over, coming to rest inverted. During the accident sequence, the airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and rudder. The pilot reported that there were no pre impact mechanical malfunctions of failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N43373
- Reported as
- Zenith Zodiac CH601 (HDS)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 6-3803
- Built
- 2006
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C1, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 1, 2024
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- RWL · Rawlins Municipal/Harvey Field, runway 04, 7,008 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- None
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
- 73
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Sport pilot, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 32 total · 1 in this make and model · 0 as pilot in command · 1 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.90 inHg
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 31, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.7 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.