The pilot told investigators that en route to her destination, she was practicing low-altitude ground reference maneuvers in the Aeronca 7AC. The last maneuver ended with the airplane in a box canyon near Valley Springs, California.
The airplane had insufficient altitude, airspeed, and distance from the canyon walls to turn around. As she approached the end of the canyon, she realized the airplane would not be able to outclimb the rising terrain. She looked for a clear spot to land and reduced the throttle to idle while shutting off the fuel.
She tried to maneuver to avoid taller terrain and touched down in between trees. During the accident sequence, the airplane incurred substantial damage to the wings.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s decision to maneuver the airplane at a low altitude and inadvertently entering a box canyon where the airplane could not outclimb the rising terrain.
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This February 2024 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.
I applaud her decision to put her 65hp Champ down instead of trying to outclimb the terrain, or attempting an un-trained, 180-degree turn, canyon escape maneuver.
I don’t mean to make light of a near-tragic accident …but I’m dubious at the idea that she was “practicing low-altitude ground reference maneuvers” .
I’m try to picture which ground reference maneuver took her up into a box canyon “by mistake”: Rectangular patterns, turns around a point, S-turns, maybe working on Eights-on-Pylons for her Commercial certificate?
In looking at her route, I wonder if she was actually just trying to fly it at extremely low altitude, because it’s fun, and she inadvertently flew into a trap.
Not that I’ve ever done something that …silly.
Here’s another restoration project for Bill Pancake!
Getting additional certificates and ratings helps to avoid accidents. That is way insurance companies lower insurance rates for pilots that do it….!
The Commercial certificate requires 250 hours ……
The main point is she was not injured and survived to fly again……
First decision wrong. Second decision right. Lived to learn and fly wiser again another day.