Cessna 182E N9277X

Summary

On 16 March 2001 at about 23:05 local time, a Cessna 182E registered N9277X, operated by Skydive Las Vegas, was involved in an accident near Boulder City, Nevada, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 March 2001 at 23:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Boulder City, Nevada, United States

Nearest airport

Boulder City Municipal (61B)

Coordinates

35.9902, -114.8097

Aircraft

Cessna 182E

Registration

N9277X

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Skydive Las Vegas

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Skydiving

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Boulder City → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX01LA126

1 person had minor injuries.

The loss of engine power during landing descent for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot of the skydiver dropping aircraft reported that the engine lost power at the end of his descent from the 12,000-foot drop altitude as the airplane approached a landing 3-mile base leg. When the engine lost power, he checked that the fuel selector was in the "both" tanks position, the mixture was in the "rich" position, and checked individual magnetos; all with no effect. He was then at low altitude and diverted his attention to completing the off-airport landing. A postaccident examination of the aircraft by the operator found about 10 gallons of fuel in the left tank and 5 gallons in the right tank. Examination of the aircraft and engine by the operator's mechanics did not reveal any mechanical anomaly. The cylinder combustion chambers and the electrodes of the engine upper spark plugs were found with a whitish appearance. The operator reported that the pilot had worked for him for 2 weeks. When he was hired, the pilot was given about 10 hours flight training as a jump-plane pilot. The flight on which the accident occurred was the pilot's fourth or fifth unsupervised flight, and required that the jumpers be dropped from 12,000 feel msl. In cases involving high drops, like this, the pilot was taught to descend with the mixture leaned in order to reduce spark plug fouling. The operator reported that he arrived at the accident scene shortly after the police and that no one had tampered with the aircraft. He found the mixture control was "not even half way in."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.