Aircraft Mfg & Dev Co (Amd) CH2000 N8500R

Summary

On 2 January 2003 at about 05:00 local time, a Aircraft Mfg & Dev Co (Amd) CH2000 registered N8500R was involved in an accident near Milford, Utah, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 January 2003 at 05:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Milford, Utah, United States

Coordinates

38.2833, -112.9000

Aircraft

Aircraft Mfg & Dev Co (Amd) CH2000

Registration

N8500R

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Cedar City → Delta

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

DEN03LA027

2 people were seriously injured.

the inadequate altitude chosen by the flight instructor, resulting in inadequate clearance and subsequent collision with mountainous terrain. Contributing factors were the instructor's failure to consult pertinent VFR sectional charts for the area, and the dark night conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The two pilots received an in-person weather briefing from the Flight Service Station at 2000. They said that they would later air-file an IFR flight plan so that they could practice instrument approaches. They departed about 2100. Approximately 2200, the Sheriff's Office received a 9-1-1 cellular telephone call from one of the airplane's occupants, advising that they had crashed, one of the occupants was trapped in the wreckage, and that he was unable to activate the ELT (emergency locator transmitter). Using NTAP (National Track Analysis Program) data from the Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and homing in on the cellular telephone signals, the wreckage was located about midnight. The two pilots were airlifted to a hospital in serious condition. One of the pilots told a sheriff's detective that they did not see the mountain. The accident site was at an elevation of about 8,500 feet msl. The Sectional Chart depicted terrain in that area at 8,840 feet msl. The instructor was reportedly "familiar with the area" and did not consult his VFR sectional charts. U.S. Naval Observatory data indicated the Moon's phase was a waning crescent, with 1 percent of the visible disk illuminated.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.