Aircraft: Zenair CH 2000. Injuries: 2 Fatal. Location: Nephi, Utah. Aircraft damage: Destroyed.
What reportedly happened: Several people on the ground saw the airplane flying low in the airport pattern during a thunderstorm. As the plane turned from a crosswind to a downwind leg, airplane stalled at an altitude of approximately 150 feet, pitched down and crashed.
A regional radar mosaic for the time of the accident depicted several scattered weather echoes with one defined cell of moderate-to-strong intensity just over the accident site. Archived lightning data for the time revealed seven in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning flashes within a 50-mile radius of the accident site, however no cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were detected within 15 miles. The detection of lightning confirmed the presence of a cumulonimbus cloud in the area.
Wreckage and impact signatures were consistent with a right-wing-low and nose-low impact. Based on the witness observations and recorded weather data, it is likely that, as a result of the approaching thunderstorm, the airplane encountered a microburst or downdraft that exceeded its climb performance and resulted in a loss of airplane control.
Probable cause: The pilot’s inability to maintain airplane control due to an encounter with a microburst/downdraft that exceeded the climb performance capabilities of the airplane.
NTSB Identification: WPR12FA378
This August 2012 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Seams to me that at low altitude and low speed, turning from crosswind to downwind allowed the wind to come from behind greater than the plane could fly and took all the lift off the wings and gust stalled the plane. As previously stated, turning at low altitude is a bad idea especially turning to downwind.
I’ve enjoyed about 43 years of flying.I live in beautiful southern Utah,on a day as discribed I wouldn’t think of fly’in. We have about 325 great flying days a year,why Fisk it! I would never make a turn before reaching at least 4-500ft(in any kind of weather).Isnt that what we all learned in basic training ? When I moved here from California I was suprised to find higher insurance cost ,Cause there’s more stupid pilots out here.
The purpose of these reports is to educate and hopefully help a pilot avoid the situation that caused the accident. There is nothing gained by unkind comments about the pilots involved. Oh by the way the article states the plane was turning FROM A CROSSWIND not into a crosswind.
Paula, it hardly matters to them now, does it? And being at 150 AGL by the time you’re turning from crosswind to downwind IS just plain bad piloting. The point was this type of mistake, which added two fatalities to the statistics, just gives the FAA more reason to say we [GA pilots] don’t know what we’re doing, and therefore aren’t safe. We don’t make good decisions, so we need Big Brother to heavily regulate our every move. That’s what the commenters on here really resent.
What do you mean SR? The fact that they were flying in thunderstorm, or that they were turning into crosswind at only 150 feet? This latter case to me is strange, why wouldn’t they continue a bit more until they gain a safer altitude (say 500 feet) before turning?
Real cause: Stupidity. As pilots, we are taught better than this, and this stuff continues to harm how the industry, GA in particular, is viewed by the general public. Plus, it causes more needless regulation…the FAA cannot regulate away human stupidity, but they keep trying. Which just shows you can not fix stupid…in either case.