Piper PA-18-150 N91187

Summary

On 23 August 2001 at about 23:00 local time, a Piper PA-18-150 registered N91187 was involved in an accident near Van Horn, Texas, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 August 2001 at 23:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Van Horn, Texas, United States

Coordinates

30.6881, -104.9275

Aircraft

Piper PA-18-150

Registration

N91187

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Marfa → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW01TA194

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in an inadvertent stall. A factor contributing to the accident was the high density altitude.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The border patrol pilot was performing routine patrol duties over rolling terrain at an estimated altitude of about 500 feet above ground level. While making a right turn and crossing a ridge, "the bottom fell out." The pilot applied full power and leveled the wings in order to recover; however, his actions were not sufficient to arrest the rate of descent and the airplane impacted the next ridge line. Examination of the airframe and engine after the accident did not reveal any anomalies that could have prevented normal flight operations. The calculated density altitude at the time of the accident was approximately 7,428 feet.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.