Cessna 182 XBYUH

Summary

On 16 August 2015 at about 16:30 local time, a Cessna 182 registered XBYUH was involved in an accident near Big Piney, Wyoming, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 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 August 2015 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Big Piney, Wyoming, United States

Coordinates

43.1597, -109.6589

Aircraft

Cessna 182

Registration

XBYUH

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Alpine → Alpine

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN15LA403

2 people had minor injuries.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate altitude while operating over high mountainous terrain, which resulted in an emergency landing after the airplane's encounter with a downdraft.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot reported that, during a preflight briefing, he and the pilot-rated passenger (who was the owner of the airplane) agreed that in the case of an emergency, the owner would take control of the airplane. After takeoff, the sightseeing flight was normal until the airplane approached a glacier at 12,000 ft mean sea level. The pilot stated that because the airplane engine was normally aspirated, there was not much power left to climb, but everything was "ok." As the airplane entered the glacier area through a canyon, it encountered a sudden downdraft and started to descend; the pilot recalled that the airplane's altitude above terrain was about 500 ft. The pilot tried to maintain a level attitude, but the airspeed began to decrease as the airplane continued to descend. The pilot-rated passenger then took control of the airplane and immediately lowered the nose to increase airspeed and set up for an emergency landing; the airplane appeared to be stalling. The airplane landed hard on ice ditches, separating the nose gear. The main landing gear dug in and the airplane came to a stop, which resulted in structural damage to the fuselage. No mechanical malfunctions or failures were reported by the pilot. Because the engine was normally aspirated, the performance of the engine was reduced at a high altitude. Further, the airplane was about 500 ft above terrain when the downdraft occurred. Considering that downdrafts in high mountainous terrain can exceed 1,000 ft per minute, the pilot did not maintain adequate altitude for the operating environment.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.