Investigation Docket - National Transportation Safety Board: https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms
Aviation Accident Data Summary - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf
http://registry.faa.gov/N3292A
The National Transportation Safety Board traveled to the scene of this accident.
Additional Participating Entities:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Helena, Montana
Textron Aviation; Wichita, Kansas
Continental Motors Inc.; Mobile, Alabama
NTSB Identification: WPR15FA049
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, November 28, 2014 in Alzada, MT
Probable Cause Approval Date: 01/18/2017
Aircraft: CESSNA 170B, registration: N3292A
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
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.
The private pilot departed for a local area flight. When he did not return, a search was initiated, and the wreckage was located in a saddle between two mountain peaks. There were no identified witnesses to the accident. Onsite documentation revealed that the airplane collided with the terrain in a vertical nose-down attitude. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
According to a friend of the pilot, the pilot was very comfortable flying in the local area at altitudes of 150 ft above ground level or less. Given the pilot's preference for low altitude flight, it is likely that he was maneuvering around the mountainous terrain, lost control of the airplane, and did not have sufficient altitude to recover before ground impact.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot's failure to maintain airplane control while maneuvering, which resulted in a collision with mountainous terrain.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On November 28, 2014, at an undetermined time, a Cessna 170B, N3292A, impacted terrain near Alzada, Montana. The co-owner/pilot was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The private pilot was fatally injured; the airplane was destroyed by impact forces. The local personal flight departed Spearfish, South Dakota, about 1200. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
The pilot became the subject of a family concern alert notice (ALNOT) on November 29, 2014, after the pilot failed to arrive at work. The accident site was located by the Civil Air Patrol on November 30, 2014, at about 1130 MST.
PERSONNEL INFORMATION
The 50-year-old pilot held a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine land.
The pilot held a third-class medical certificate that was issued on May 27, 2014. It had no limitations or waivers.
An examination of the pilot's logbook indicated a total flight time of 1,580 hours. He logged 14 hours in the last 90 days, and 5 hours in the last 30 days. About 200 hours had been accumulated in the make and model airplane involved in the accident. A biennial flight review was accomplished on October 10, 2013.
A close friend of the accident pilot reported that the pilot was very conscious and that he had learned to fly from a former crop duster. He was very comfortable flying low level in the local area and anything above 150 feet was too high for him to be happy.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
The airplane was a Cessna 170B, serial number 25936. The engine was a Continental Motors Model C-145, serial number 7515-D-2-2.
The airframe logbook(s) were not located. Examination of the only recovered maintenance records (Engine Logbook) indicated that the last annual/100-hour inspection had been complied with on September 2, 2013. Total time recorded on the engine at this time was unknown, and time since major overhaul was 1,727.9 hours.
No records were recovered which would indicate that the airplane had an annual inspection after the September 2013 date.
Fueling records at Westjet Air Center, Rapid City, SD established that the airplane was last fueled on November 9, 2014, with the addition of 20 gallons of 100 Low Lead-octane aviation fuel.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
Investigators examined the wreckage at the accident scene on December 2, 2014.
There were no identified witnesses to the accident, or the flight of the accident airplane.
The first identified point of contact (FIPC) was the ground crater with the main wreckage. The 50-foot debris path was along a magnetic heading of 130-degrees. The orientation of the fuselage was also 130-degrees. The wings were oriented 040/220-degrees.
The wreckage was located on the southeast side of a saddle between two peaks. The airplane was positioned in a near vertical nose down attitude with the tail section standing vertical. The aft fuselage exhibited no indications of rotation. The aft fuselage, from the aft doorpost to the empennage was observed accordion towards the nose of the airplane. The damage to both wings was consistent with the contour of the terrain. The right wing was observed accordion aft from the leading edge to just aft of the main spar and the wing root and from the leading edge to the aileron at the tip. The left wing was observed accordion aft from the leading edge to aft of the main spar at the wing root and from the leading edge to the aileron at the wing tip. The engine was only partly visible under the cockpit area. One propeller tip was observed under the engine. There was no fire. There was an odor of fuel near the left fuel tank.
METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS
The closest aviation weather observation station was Baker Municipal Airport, Baker, Montana (KBHK), which was 69 nautical miles north of the accident site. The elevation of the weather observation station was 2,980 feet mean sea level (msl). An aviation routine weather report (METAR) for KBHK was recorded at 1451 MST. It reported: wind from 230 degrees at 10 knots; visibility 10 miles; sky clear; temperature 10 degrees C; dew point -1 degrees C; altimeter 29.49 inches of mercury.
MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
No autopsy was performed on the pilot. The FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, performed toxicological testing of specimens of the pilot.
Analysis of the specimens contained no findings for carbon monoxide, cyanide, volatiles, and tested drugs.
TESTS AND RESEARCH
Investigators examined the wreckage at Air Transport, Phoenix, Arizona, on March 9, 2015.
Examination of the engine revealed no abnormalities which would have precluded normal operation of the engine. The engine displayed impact damage consistent with the engine operating at the time of impact.
Examination of the recovered airframe revealed no abnormalities which would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. The airframe sustained impact damage from a vertical descent with no rotational signatures. All control surfaces were accounted for and control continuity was established for the flight controls.
The complete engine and airframe examination reports are attached to the docket for this accident.
NTSB Identification: WPR15FA049
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, November 28, 2014 in Alzada, MT
Aircraft: CESSNA 170B, registration: N3292A
Injuries: 1 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 November 28, 2014, at an unknown time, a single-engine Cessna 170B airplane, N3292A, impacted mountainous terrain near Alzada, Montana. The owner/private pilot operated the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. The pilot, the sole occupant, was fatally injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the flight that departed from Black Hills Airport-Clyde Ice Field (SPF), Spearfish, South Dakota about 1200 MST.
A family concerned Alert Notification (ALNOT) was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on November 29, when the pilot did not show up for work. The airplane was found by the Wyoming Civil Air Patrol on November 30, 2014, at about 1130 MST, and the accident site was accessed by personnel from the Carter County Sheriff's Department on November 30.
The airplane came to rest on the east side of a saddle located between two peaks in a near vertical nose down attitude on a magnetic heading of 130 degrees. The accident site was located about 25 miles north of Alzada, at an elevation of about 4,000 feet. The entire airplane came to rest at the accident site, and flight control continuity was established on site.
The airplane was recovered on December 4, 2014, for further examination.
Peter Kovarik is shown here flying above the Black Hills. Kovarik, the priest at the Lead and Deadwood Catholic churches died Friday when the plane he was piloting crashed north of Alzada, Mont.LEAD — Vibrant, passionate, energetic, caring. That is how friends and parishioners remember Peter Kovarik who died Friday when the plane he was piloting crashed in the Finger Buttes area north of Alzada, Mont.
Better known as Father Pete, Kovarik was the priest at the Lead and Deadwood Catholic churches. In the 11 months that he served as the spiritual leader in the church, parishioners said he has turned the church around, reinvigorating the members, bringing back younger parishioners and rekindling the spark of faith to many.
Steve Biegler, the pastor at Our Lady of the Black Hills in Piedmont and the vicar general of the Rapid City Catholicdiocese has known Kovarik for nearly 30 years.
The two men went to seminary together at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minn.
“He had a lot of energy in life in general, but he had a lot of energy for the faith and the ministry that’s for sure,” Biegler said. “We were good friends. We hiked together. We played practical jokes on each other and together. What was most important to me was that he was a good brother priest.”
Kovarik came to the Lead and Deadwood parish on Jan. 3 after serving in Custer for nearly a decade.
Shortly before coming to the Black Hills Kovarik received his pilot’s license in Timber Lake.
He enjoyed sharing his love of flying with members of the church and took many parishioners for flights in his plane. Several members of the congregation, including fellow pilots, said he was a cautious pilot and did not take risks.
But that didn’t mean problems in flight did not find Kovarik.
“One encounter he told us about, he flew into Rapid City and saw sparks coming from under the plane,” said Darlene J. Burns, a volunteer office administrator at the parish. “ He thought he better get off the concrete, so he went over to the grass but then said ‘this isn’t a very good idea either’ because it was pretty dry. It ended up breaking the landing gear.”
When the he took Burns for a flight later she asked him with a chuckle, “now you did get that fixed, right?’
They flew low over Lead and Deadwood and then to the Southern Hills where he surprised them by touching down on a grass landing strip.
“He enjoyed flying and he wanted people to experience what he felt,” Burns said. “I’m looking at it to help me cope, he died doing what he loved.”
Mary DeMarcus, who was working with Kovarik to develop a lifelong faith program said he was ardent about so many things in life.
“He was passionate about flying, about music – he had a beautiful voice. He also played the guitar and piano. He was also very spiritual. You could see that he loved God. He was also very joyful,” DeMarcus said.
She said Kovarik caused people to become better versions of themselves.
“He was so vibrant and so full of energy,” she said. “We called him the Energizer Bunny around the office because he had so much energy.”
Lisa Fahey, a parishioner, agreed that Kovarik helped revive the church.
“He was real,” she said. “He didn’t say he had it all together, and he didn’t expect us to have it all together. He walked with us and we walked with him.
“His life was beautiful. He makes us all communal,” she added. “I will miss him as a friend and as my pastor.”
Burns too added Kovarik breathed new life into the church.
“He challenged us to go deeper in our faith,” she said. “Some of the young people who have come back, a lot of single parents, it’s just astronomical to see these young people and their children in the church.”
But it wasn’t just the church that he impacted.
“He has done so much for so many people in such a short time for the whole community,” she said. “He will be really hard to replace with as outgoing he was with the whole community, not just us Catholics, but the entire community.”
Fellow pilot and parishioner Les Wolff said the two men often talked about flying.
“Father Pete loved to fly. His first thought of the day, if he saw the sun, was a flight out in the country,” Wolff said.
Kovarik’s last flight began around 11 a.m., Friday from the Spearfish Airport/Clyde Ice Field. He was the only passenger aboard the single-engine Cessna 170B private airplane of which he was the registered owner. A flight plan was not filed, nor was one required.
Ted Miller, the business manager with Black Hills Aero, located at the Spearfish Airport talked to Kovarik that morning, minutes before he took flight for the last time.
“He drove up, got out of his car and said he was going flying,” Miller said.
Miller himself went on a flight just hours later and unknowingly flew within 20 miles of the crash site. He reported good weather with high clouds at the time of his flight.
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration is assisting.
“If weather got him I’d say it was one of those situations a lot of pilots get pitched into and have to make a decision on how to get out of it,” Wolff said. “Some of us make the right choice and some don’t. You don’t have but seconds for that to happen.”
Wolff feels he saw a sign from above when he was returning to Spearfish on Sunday in his airplane.
“As we traveled from Billings to Spearfish, all we knew was prayers were in order,” Wolff said. “We had no idea what the outcome would be. Somewhere west of Broadus, Mont., this bald eagle swooped down out of the sky and flared to our right and then lifted out. We were pretty much at peace when we saw that.”
Services for Kovarik will be at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, in Rapid City. A wake and vigil will be at 7 p.m. Thursday and the funeral is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday.
It was not known at press time if there would be an additional community service in Lead and Deadwood at a later date.
- Source: http://www.bhpioneer.com
The Catholic community in the Black Hills is mourning the loss of a well-known parish leader.
Father Peter Kovarik died after his plane crashed this weekend near the Montana town of Alzada.
Bishop Robert Gruss with the Diocese of Rapid City says that Father Kovarik was loved everywhere he went.
Kovarik served as a pastor at numerous parishes throughout Black Hills communities.
Bishop Gruss says Father Kovarik was in love with his priesthood and he will be dearly missed by his parishioners.
Bishop Gruss says, "I think he'll be remembered as someone who was deeply loved by his parishioners. He also had a passion for all he did; he had a passion for flying, a passion for priesthood, a passion for the outdoors. I think every part of his life he was passionate about and I think he'll be remembered in that way as well, as someone who really embraced life as best he could in ministry and he was serious but he had a lot of fun."
Father Kovarik's wake is set for Thursday at 7pm and the funeral is scheduled for Friday at 6:30pm, both will be held at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rapid City.
- Source: http://www.blackhillsfox.com
ALZADA, Mont — A single engine plane crash in Montana has claimed the life of Peter Kovarik, the priest at the Lead and Deadwood Catholic Churches.
On Friday, Kovarik took off shortly after 11 a.m. from the Spearfish Airport/Clyde Ice Field for a recreational flight around the Spearfish area. When he did not show up for 4 p.m. mass Saturday at St. Patrick’s Church in Lead, he was reported missing.
His airplane was discovered Sunday morning by members of the Wyoming Civil Air Patrol. He was the only occupant in the single-engine Cessna 170B private airplane of which he was the registered owner.
A flight plan was not filed, nor was one required.
Due to poor weather conditions Saturday evening, members of the South Dakota Civil Air Patrol did not launch an immediate search. A ground team deployed early Sunday morning in the Colony, Wyo., area as a cell phone ping indicated that the plane was in the vicinity Friday. At approximately 9:30 a.m. Sunday, two Civil Air Patrol planes from South Dakota and another from Wyoming launched and joined the ground search, said Bruce Kip with the South Dakota branch.
The Wyoming search plane, equipped with sensors to locate radio signals from emergency beacons in aircraft, located the crash site north of Alzada at approximately 11 a.m. and gave coordinates to redirect the ground search that included members of the Carter County, Mont., Sheriff’s Office.
Dale Diede, the deputy corner for Carter County, Mont., said the plane crashed hard approximately 30 miles north of Alzada in very steep and rugged terrain called the Finger Buttes.
Ted Miller, the business manager with Black Hills Aero, located at the Spearfish Airport talked to Kovarik Friday morning.
“He drove up, got out of his car and said he was going flying,” Miller said. “He was a wonderful man, really kind.”
Miller himself went on a flight just hours later and unknowingly flew within 20 miles of the crash site. Miller reported good weather with high clouds at the time of his flight.
Miller said he was unsure of how many hours Kovarik had logged, but said he was an experienced pilot and had been flying for quite a few years and has owned several planes throughout his life.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration is assisting.
- Source: http://www.bhpioneer.com
Civil Air Patrol/South Dakota Wing news release concerning a joint South Dakota Wing/Wyoming Wing search for and location of a crashed small aircraft.
Civil Air Patrol Search For/Location of Crashed Small Aircraft
Late in the evening of 29 November the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall AFB, Florida notified the South Dakota Wing and the Wyoming Wing of the Civil Air Patrol that an aircraft was overdue to return to Spearfish, SD. Poor weather conditions prevented the launch of an immediate search that night. Around 6:00am on Sunday a ground search team was dispatched from CAP’s Lookout Mountain Composite Squadron 9Spearfish) to Colony, WY which cell phone forensics indicated as a possible search site. Later that morning three aircraft; two from South Dakota Wing and one from Wyoming Wing, were launched to conduct an aerial search for the missing aircraft’s emergency beacon (ELT). Using special onboard sensors the CAP aircraft began picking up the ELT signal and worked to refine the location. About one hour later, using aerial triangulation, a Wyoming Wing aircraft sighted the missing aircraft on the ground in high desert area near the tiny town of Alzada, MT. The ground search team was re-directed from Colony to Alzada where they linked up with officers from the Carter County Sheriff’s Office. While the ground team was en route, Wyoming Wing and South Dakota Wing aircraft took turns orbiting the crash site to direct the ground team to the location. Once Carter County Sheriff Office personnel were at the crash site the South Dakota Wing ground team and both wing’s aircraft returned to their bases.
Bruce Kipp, Major, CAP
Public Affairs Officer
SD Wing Civil Air Patrol
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