14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, May 29, 2012 in Duck Creek Village, UT
Aircraft: CIRRUS SR20, registration: N187PG
Injuries: 4 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On May 29, 2012, about 1400 mountain daylight time, a Cirrus SR20 airplane, N187PG, was substantially damaged following impact with remote mountainous terrain while maneuvering near Duck Creek Village, Utah. The certified private pilot and 3 passengers sustained fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country flight, which was being operated in accordance with 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight departed the Mesquite Airport (67L), Mesquite, Nevada, about 1155 Pacific daylight time, with Bryce Canyon Airport (BCE) as its reported destination.
According to the airport manager at 67L, the airplane landed about 1130 Pacific daylight time, refueled, and departed about 1155. Neither the pilot nor any of the three passengers indicated where the airplane had arrived from or where it would be departing to. The airport manger reported that after refueling the airplane with about 10 gallons of aviation fuel, the flight departed to the northeast, but only after performing one touch-and-go landing.
The airplane was reported overdue and missing later that afternoon. About 1930 that evening, local law enforcement personnel reported that the airplane had been located in remote mountainous terrain on the west slope of a mountain ridge about 22 nautical miles southeast of Cedar City (CDC), Utah, and about 7 nm southwest of Duck Creek Village.
On May 31, two National Transportation Safety Board investigators, accompanied by representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, Cirrus Aircraft, and Continental Motors, Inc., traveled to the accident site. A survey of the wreckage revealed that it had come to rest inverted on a measured magnetic heading of 277 degrees, at coordinates 37 degrees 26.101 minutes north latitude and 112 degrees 45.899 minutes west longitude, and at an elevation of 7,172 feet mean sea level. There was no post crash fire. It was determined after examining the wreckage that all components necessary for flight were accounted for at the accident site.
At 1353, the weather reporting facility at CDC indicated wind variable at 4 knots with gusts to 18 knots, visibility 10 miles, sky clear, temperature 26 degrees Celsius (C), dew point -9 degrees C, and an altimeter setting of 30.09 inches of mercury.
The airplane was recovered to a secured storage facility in Phoenix, Arizona, for further examination.
The Kane County Sheriff’s Office on Friday
identified the four men killed when their single-engine aircraft crashed
during a sightseeing flight near southwestern Utah’s Zion National Park
earlier this week.
All four of the victims in the Tuesday afternoon crash were from Las Vegas, Nev. They included the pilot, Joshua Stubblefield, 31, and passengers Chris Spircu, 44, Paul Andrews, 32, and Todd Stuntzner, 45.
The men’s identities were released Friday morning after results of Thursday autopsies and forensics testing by the Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office were provided to the sheriff’s office.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the
four were aboard a Cirrus SR20 registered to Hunt Aviation, of Las
Vegas; the plane was being rented through I Fly Elite, also of Las
Vegas. I Fly Elite characterized Stubblefield as a "very experienced"
and the trip that day as "a non-training pleasure flight."
The aircraft had taken off from North Las Vegas Airport for Bryce Canyon shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday. The plane’s emergency transmitter beacon activated about 12:20 p.m., providing a location for an apparent crash. Kane County sheriff’s deputies, initially frustrated in attempts to locate the plane with a ground and air search, located the wreckage and victims’ remains Wednesday morning.
Kane County Sheriff's Office
Kane County Sheriff's Office
Kane County Sheriff's Office
Kane County Sheriff's Office
Kane County Sheriff's Office
Kane County Sheriff's Office
Kane County Sheriff's Office
NORTH LAS VEGAS -- The Kane County Sheriff's Office today released pictures from the Utah plane crash that claimed four lives Tuesday.
The pictures show the crash site of the Cirrus SR20. The single-engine plane left North Las Vegas for Bryce Canyon Tuesday morning. FAA officials say the plane crashed after a brief stop in Mesquite. The crash site was discovered on a ridge on the northeast boundary of Zion National Park.
The plane, registered to Hunt Aviation, was operated by Elite Flight Training and Management Company. Officials with the company say the pilot was experienced and on a non-training pleasure flight. The names of the victims have not been released.
FAA IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 187PG Make/Model: SR20 Description: SR-20 CIRRUS
Date: 05/30/2012 Time: 0230
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: CEDAR CITY State: UT Country: US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE 4 PERSONS ON BOARD WERE
FATALLY INJURED, WRECKAGE LOCATED 20 MILES FROM CEDAR CITY, UT
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 4
# Crew: 4 Fat: 4 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: SALT LAKE CITY, UT (NM07) Entry date: 05/31/2012
(Springdale, UT) - A single-engine aircraft crashed in a remote area of Kane County Tuesday, killing all four people on board.
The incident marks the second crash involving a single-engine plane and also resulted in the deaths of four people in southern Utah in less than a week.
The latest incident happened Tuesday about 3:00PM. A Cirrus SR20 took off from Las Vegas just before 11:00PM headed to Bryce Canyon, according to Allen Kenitzer, of the Federal Aviation Administration.
After the plane failed to arrive at its destination, the company that owns the aircraft reported it missing, Kenitzer said. The plane is registered to Hunt Aviation LLC out of Las Vegas, according to the FAA registry.
A signal from the plane's emergency transmitter beacon was received by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Rescue Center located in Florida, according to the Kane County Sheriff's Office. The Civil Air Patrol located in St. George was notified just before 6:00PM and a crew of three flew over the area and confirmed the location of the crash site by about 8:00PM and took pictures.
"The wreckage was scattered over quite a wide area. It looked like it impacted quite hard," said Lt. Col. Max Kieffer with Civil Air Patrol, who was the incident commander. "The crew could see no movement or any indication of survivors."
The wreckage was found in a rugged area on a ridge-top about 18 miles north of state Route 9 and East North Fork Road, northeast of Zion National Park. Kane County sheriff's officials went to the area, but waited until Wednesday to recover the bodies because of darkness and the terrain.
A possible cause for the crash was not immediately known. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will both investigate the incident.
Bryce Canyon Airport manager Greg Pollock said there had been several crash landings in the area over the past two weeks. On most of those days, he said, there were strong winds blowing.
While the vast majority of emergency landings result in no injuries, Pollock said it is still a tricky area for pilots.
"The big challenge is the terrain itself. If you are not close to a meadow or a dirt road or one of the highways, the terrain is so rugged that is really decreases your chance of survival if you have to make a forced landing," he said.
Source: http://www.kcsg.com
The latest incident happened Tuesday about 3:00PM. A Cirrus SR20 took off from Las Vegas just before 11:00PM headed to Bryce Canyon, according to Allen Kenitzer, of the Federal Aviation Administration.
After the plane failed to arrive at its destination, the company that owns the aircraft reported it missing, Kenitzer said. The plane is registered to Hunt Aviation LLC out of Las Vegas, according to the FAA registry.
A signal from the plane's emergency transmitter beacon was received by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Rescue Center located in Florida, according to the Kane County Sheriff's Office. The Civil Air Patrol located in St. George was notified just before 6:00PM and a crew of three flew over the area and confirmed the location of the crash site by about 8:00PM and took pictures.
"The wreckage was scattered over quite a wide area. It looked like it impacted quite hard," said Lt. Col. Max Kieffer with Civil Air Patrol, who was the incident commander. "The crew could see no movement or any indication of survivors."
The wreckage was found in a rugged area on a ridge-top about 18 miles north of state Route 9 and East North Fork Road, northeast of Zion National Park. Kane County sheriff's officials went to the area, but waited until Wednesday to recover the bodies because of darkness and the terrain.
A possible cause for the crash was not immediately known. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will both investigate the incident.
Bryce Canyon Airport manager Greg Pollock said there had been several crash landings in the area over the past two weeks. On most of those days, he said, there were strong winds blowing.
While the vast majority of emergency landings result in no injuries, Pollock said it is still a tricky area for pilots.
"The big challenge is the terrain itself. If you are not close to a meadow or a dirt road or one of the highways, the terrain is so rugged that is really decreases your chance of survival if you have to make a forced landing," he said.
Source: http://www.kcsg.com
