The Flight Design CTLS, which was owned and operated by the local county sheriff’s department, was on a low-altitude observation flight near Springville, California.
According to GPS data recovered from the airplane, about 1 minute before the accident, the plane was flying westbound (heading 242°) over a highway, about 500′ above ground level (agl), and at a groundspeed of 52 knots. The GPS data and witness observations indicated that the airplane entered a left turn.
According to the witnesses, the wings then dipped left and right, and the plane descended to ground impact. The witnesses heard the engine operating in a steady tone until ground impact.
A postcrash fire ensued, which destroyed the airplane. Both souls aboard the plane died.
Examination of the wreckage did not reveal evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
The airplane’s estimated weight at the time of the accident was about 152 pounds over the airplane’s maximum gross weight. Because of the higher gross weight, the airplane’s stall speed in a 30° banked turn was 3 knots higher than it would have been at the airplane’s maximum gross weight. This resulted in a stall speed of about 48 knots calibrated airspeed, which was near the airplane’s recorded groundspeed of 52 knots.
The sun position at the time of the accident was on a bearing of 241° and was 13° above the horizon, indicating that the pilot was looking directly into the sun before the left turn began.
Another pilot who flew in the vicinity shortly after the accident reported that when flying westbound over the highway, he was looking straight into the sun, there was a lot of haze, and he could not distinguish the tops of the hills to the left of the highway from the sky.
It is likely that the accident pilot was partially blinded by sun glare and did not see the hills rising above him on his left. After he entered the left turn moving away from the sun line, it is likely that the rising terrain suddenly came into view, and he increased the airplane’s bank angle to avoid the terrain and exceeded the wing’s critical angle-of-attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall. The altitude the airplane was operating at was too low to allow for a recovery.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed while maneuvering at low altitude in hilly terrain, which resulted in the airplane’s wing exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and a subsequent aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident were the pilot’s inability to recognize the rising terrain due to the sun glare and the pilot’s operation of the airplane in excess of its gross weight.
NTSB Identification: WPR16FA067
This February 2016 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.
A BSR wouldn’t have saved them. To low and to slow for a fully enveloped chute to slow the decent from a spiral/steep turn or half spin. As far as horsepower this little plane does very well when operated within the CG/Max weight limits.
The Flight Design POH does not give a min height for a chute pull. Given it’s tiny size and gross weight what would be your guess? The Cirrus SR22 (gross 3200 lbs) can pull as low as 400 feet agl.
So BRS wouldn’t have mitigated their other errors. The stall spin occurred at 500′ (or lower)… they were below 400′ AGL well before the pilot had time to pull the chute. The root cause, if anyone digs into this, appears to be a lax safety culture at the Sheriff’s office that permeated the aviation ops.
The aircraft was 12% of MGTOW at the time of the accident (an improvement since the aircraft burned an estimated 6 gallons of fuel since takeoff), flying at 500′ AGL, barely above POH stall speed and even closer to Vs when accounting for the overweight condition, with an aft [but within envelope] center of gravity, directly into the sun, in hilly country, and below nearby high terrain. ==>>What is wrong with this picture?<<== It's clear that the Sheriff's department lacked solid SOPs for their flight operation, and that the pilot failed to exercise even minimal 'due diligence' in this flight. By all indications, the pilot was behaving as just another observer, rather than flying the aircraft. According to the NTSB docket, when the pilot realized the predicament he was in and "… while flying at low altitude [he] entered a hard left turn and descended into terrain…" It is also stated in the NTSB final report that as he turned away from the sun he was likely surprised by the close proximity of high terrain, and that the aircraft very likely entered an accelerated stall.
I fly this area a lot …. and you know I don’t want to put down these guys. But if they were from this area and flying around here enough to be have a job flying for the sheriff department they should have known how the terrain is and should not have been surprised by it even if the su was in their eyes…. even so. People do things that seem to make perfect sense to them at the time at the time they do them
A. flying over gross weight is already a recipe for the accident B. making a steep turn low to the ground in an underpowered SLSA like the Flight Design is another nail in that coffin C. this plane had a BRS chute but ya gotta pull it for it to be any good