NTSB Identification: GAA17CA227
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, March 18, 2017 in Borrego Springs, CA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 10/31/2017
Aircraft: CUBCRAFTERS INC CC11-160, registration: N153JM
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.
NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The private pilot reported that he landed off airport to an unimproved surface. He remarked that the “airplane only needs about 60 feet of ground roll to become airborne.” During the attempted takeoff, the airplane ascended about 2 ft above ground level before the landing gear wheel impacted desert shrubs, and the pilot aborted the takeoff. The airplane touched down and developed a side load, and the right main landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage tube struts and the firewall.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot’s selection of an unsuitable takeoff area, which resulted in impact with obstacles.
Aviation Accident Factual Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf
http://registry.faa.gov/N153JM
NTSB Identification: GAA17CA227
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, March 18, 2017 in Borrego Springs, CA
Aircraft: CUBCRAFTERS INC CC11-160, registration: N153JM
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.
NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The private pilot reported that he landed off airport to an unimproved surface. He remarked that the, "airplane only needs about 60 feet of ground roll to become airborne." During the attempted takeoff the airplane ascended about 2 ft. above ground level before the landing gear wheel impacted desert shrubs and the pilot aborted the takeoff. The airplane touched down and developed a side load and the right main landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage tube struts and the firewall.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The first indication that a plane was down came Saturday afternoon when the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida picked up a signal from an emergency locator beacon transmitting from somewhere in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
The center alerted the California Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. A search plane dispatched from Fallbrook found the wreckage in the mountains nine miles northeast of Borrego Valley Airport.
But when a helicopter dispatched by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department reached the crash site, there was no one to rescue. The pilot and any passengers on the mysterious flight were gone.
On Sunday, the authorities had pieced the story together, mostly.
Lt. Rich Williams of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department said the pilot, whose identity has not formally been released, was tracked down at his home in Pacific Palisades. He told investigators that he and his passenger, his brother-in-law, were uninjured and walked away from the wreck.
“They were going to report it to his insurance company,” Williams said. “He considered it an incident causing damage to his plane and nothing more.”
But some details remained fuzzy.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the crash, released a statement saying the “single-engine Cubcrafters CC11-160 crashed under unknown circumstances immediately after taking off from Borrego Springs. The intended destination was Palm Springs.”
But Williams said the pilot told authorities a different story — that he had landed the aircraft in the park about 8:30 a.m. Saturday to visit and crashed taking off. The pilot and his brother-in-law walked away and went home — by what means Williams was not sure.
“We think he hitch-hiked,” said said Maj. Dave Kalahar, spokesman for the Civil Air Patrol.
“Let me just say,” Kalahar added, “I have never run across a circumstance like this before. He was able to walk away from putting the aircraft down. That we would call a successful outcome.”
The FAA, which does not release the identities of people involved in crashes, did disclose the plane’s tail number.
It is registered to David S. Segel of Pacific Palisades. Segel could not be reached Sunday.
Source: http://www.latimes.com
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