Cessna 175 N7366M

Summary

On 28 June 1998 at about 06:32 local time, a Cessna 175 registered N7366M was involved in an accident near Clovis, New Mexico, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

28 June 1998 at 06:32

Classification

Accident

Location

Clovis, New Mexico, United States

Coordinates

34.4094, -103.2000

Aircraft

Cessna 175

Registration

N7366M

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Los Lunas → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

FTW98FA287

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate obstacle clearance and the proper landing glide path. Also causal was his loss of aircraft control during an attempted go-around. Factors were the dark night light conditions, the pilot's recent lack of sleep, and the pilot's lack of recent night flying experience.,

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument rated private pilot (237 hours of flight experience) was a professional truck driver and had worked 12 hours on the day of the accident. The pilot departed at 2200 (he had 5.2 hours of night experience during the last 18 months). The moon set at 2255. Witnesses reported seeing a large spark which lit up the sky on the approach end of runway 4. The power went out at the airport, including the runway lights. N7366M was seen flying low over the runway and applying power to go-around. The airplane was found in a cornfield 1,500 feet left of runway centerline. The approach track to runway 4 crosses transmission lines 3,510 feet from the PAPI indicated runway touchdown point (the three top lines were found separated). It could not be determined if the pilot had training or exposure to the PAPI system. The pilot last flew with his flight instructor (in N7366M) on March 19, 1998; the flight instructor observed that the attitude indicator was not functioning properly. No documentation was found which indicated that the attitude indicator had been fixed.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.