Cirrus SR22 N953CD

Summary

On 9 April 2007 at about 17:59 local time, a Cirrus SR22 registered N953CD was involved in an accident near Luna, New Mexico, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 April 2007 at 17:59

Classification

Accident

Location

Luna, New Mexico, United States

Coordinates

34.0381, -108.9022

Aircraft

Cirrus SR22

Registration

N953CD

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tuscon → Englewood

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN07LA082

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's failure to activate the pitot heat while flying in the clouds and visible moisture, resulting in pitot tube contamination and the subsequent loss of air data for the primary flight display. Contributing to the accident was the icing conditions, and the pilot's subsequent spatial disorientation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, he was climbing from 15,000 feet to 16,000 feet to avoid building thunderstorms and snow showers. The pilot reported that he was in instrument meteorological conditions when the airspeed indication started to decrease and then the airspeed and altimeter readouts, within the primary flight display, went to "hash marks." The pilot stated that he manually overrode the autopilot to initiate a descent, and turned the pitot heat on. The pilot report that shortly thereafter the airspeed indication returned. The pilot sensed that he was in a descent and "pulled back" to slow the airplane down and the attitude indicator went "haywire." The terrain warning system activated and the pilot elected to activate the ballistic recovery parachute on the airplane. The airplane impacted trees and came to rest inverted at the top of several trees, resulting in substantial damage. In later telephone conversations with the pilot, he was asked about the position of the pitot heat, during the course of the flight. The pilot stated that he was not continuously in the clouds and the pitot heat remained off. He stated further that initially, he might have inadvertently turned the icing protection system on instead of the pitot heat. The switches are right next to each other. An examination of the primary flight display, and multi-function display revealed a loss of air data, due to pitot tube icing. An examination of the remaining airplane systems revealed no anomalies.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.