Piper PA-28-181 N6130H

Summary

On 15 September 2000 at about 22:10 local time, a Piper PA-28-181 registered N6130H was involved in an accident near Sheridan, Wyoming, United States. 2 people were on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 September 2000 at 22:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Sheridan, Wyoming, United States

Coordinates

44.7896, -106.9510

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-181

Registration

N6130H

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pierre → Red Lodge

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN00LA170

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's improper inflight decision to enter a canyon at an altitude insufficient to clear rising terrain. A factor was the aircraft's climb performance being exceeded due to the rising terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot filed an IFR flight plan, and was flying direct from Pierre, South Dakota, to Red Lodge, Montana. North of Newcastle, Wyoming, he cancelled his IFR flight plan and received VFR flight following as he started toward the Big Horn Mountains. He turned up a valley and soon realized the terrain was rising faster than the airplane could climb. Terrain proximity precluded him from turning around, so he elected to land in a meadow. Although the pilot escaped injury, his passenger sustained a compression fracture of a lumbar vertebra, and the airplane was substantially damaged when both wings and fuselage buckled.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.