Beechcraft F33A N1563A

Summary

On 1 February 2006 at about 22:04 local time, a Beechcraft F33A registered N1563A was involved in an accident near Buckeye, Arizona, 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

1 February 2006 at 22:04

Classification

Accident

Location

Buckeye, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Phoenix Goodyear (KGYR)

Coordinates

33.2683, -112.5908

Aircraft

Beechcraft F33A

Registration

N1563A

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Buckeye → PhoenixGoodyear

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX06FA099

1 person died.

The student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After crossing flight paths with a military fighter jet, the single engine airplane entered an increasingly steep descent and subsequently impacted terrain. The solo student pilot departed the airport and proceeded to climb towards a designated practice area. Upon reaching 4,500 feet the pilot reduced power and entered a 500-foot-per-minute descent. At this point the pilot may have been alerted by the on-board TCAS (traffic/collision alerting device) that there was traffic approaching from her right side, close to her altitude. The sun was also off her right side at an elevation of 31 degrees above the horizon. Within seconds an F-16 fighter jet crossed in front of her from right to left. The closest point of approach between the two aircraft, as determined by a radar data study, was 1,850 feet laterally and 400 feet vertically. A study of the wake and vortex turbulence that would have been produced by the F-16 determined that the generated vortices could not have dropped low enough to affect the path of the student's airplane. After the F-16 passed, the student's airplane continued an increasingly steep linear descent, eventually exceeding 2,500 feet per minute before impacting the terrain at a 50-degree nose down, right wing down attitude, 29 seconds after the encounter. Multiple close examinations of the aircraft wreckage failed to reveal any evidence of mechanical failure or malfunction. A review of the student's available medical records, autopsy, and toxicology analysis did not reveal any physiological inconsistencies. It is certainly possible (and consistent with the circumstances of the accident) that the student pilot lost consciousness following her presumed near collision; however, there is not enough information available to fully support this hypothesis.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.