by Jim Timm
The following are the reports of aviation accidents and incidents that occurred in Arizona from late January through February, 2022. APA will be using this detailed information to develop safety programs, briefings, and posters/flyers that would help pilots learn from the mistakes being made by others and take the action necessary to prevent them from having similar occurrences.
Aviation safety this reporting period was not the greatest, not only because of the number of accidents, but more importantly, one of the accidents resulted in a fatality. Other than this one bad accident, the rest of the accidents didn’t involve any serious injuries. I would only hope that we can avoid having another fatality for a while and keep the number of accidents down, also. So, let’s all try to fly safely.
To provide the most information possible, the following information was obtained from the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), FAA, NTSB, and from our APA members.
Date: January 21, 2022
Info. Source: APA
Location: Payson
Type: Cessna 150D
Injuries: 2 Uninjured
LOSS OF CONTROL LANDING
The airplane, which had a tailwheel conversion installed, departed the runway during the landing, and during the loss of control, one landing gear leg was damaged, and the right-wing tip was also damaged. Fortunately, there was not a prop strike or sudden engine stoppage, and no one got hurt.
Date: January 25, 2022
Info. Source: FAA
Location: Phoenix (DVT)
Type: Cirrus SR20
Injuries: 2 Uninjured
NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED ON LANDING
While landing on runway 25R, the nose gear collapsed, and the aircraft veered off the south side of the runway. The hard landing was not so hard to have resulted in damage to the landing gear. Cirrus has a known problem with nose gear failures identical to this event. The required inspections imposed by Cirrus were complied with on this aircraft. An SDR report was filed.
Date: January 26, 2022
Info. Source: NTSB, ASN
Location: Williams
Type: Beech F33A
Injuries: 1 Minor Injury
INFLIGHT ENGINE FAILURE
On January 26, 2022, about 1055 MST, a Beech F33A was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Williams, and the pilot sustained minor injuries. The airplane was operating as a Part 91 instructional flight.
The pilot reported that he departed from H A Clark Memorial Field Airport, runway 36, and turned left to the west. While ascending, about 700 to 800 ft agl, the engine lost power and the pilot initiated a right turn toward the airport. The pilot stated that he realized he was unable to make it to the airport and elected to land in an open desert field. Subsequently, the airplane landed hard and struck vegetation during the landing roll. The pilot stated that he had topped off the main fuel tanks prior to the accident flight and that the fuel selector level was selected in the main tanks position.
Post-accident examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that left and right wings were substantially damaged.
Date: January 27, 2022
Info. Source: FAA
Location: Phoenix (DVT)
Type: Mooney M20C
Injuries: 1 Uninjured
INFLIGHT ENGINE FAILURE
The Mooney M20C made an emergency landing .25 miles short of runway 25L after declaring an emergency due to an inflight loss of power.
Date: January 29, 2022
Info. Source: FAA
Location: Phoenix (DVT)
Type: Beech Debonair (BE33)
Injuries: 2 Uninjured
ROUGH RUNNING ENGINE
On flight from Chandler to Sedona, the aircraft was about 45 miles south of Sedona when the aircraft experienced a rough running engine. It was not thought to be an emergency, but the decision was made to return to Chandler if possible with an alternative of Deer Valley (DVT) if the engine got worse. The engine performance did decrease, and the pilot declared an emergency with DVT, and the Debonair was told to expect to land on runway 7R at DVT, and the aircraft did execute a safe landing at DVT without further incident.
Date: February 1, 2022
Info. Source: FAA, NTSB, ASN
Location: Gila Bend
Type: Cessna A185F
Injuries: 2 Uninjured
LOSS OF CONTROL LANDING
The instructional flight aircraft veered off the runway after landing causing the main landing gear to separate from the aircraft. The damage was determined to be substantial.
Date: February 9, 2022
Info. Source: FAA
Location: Buckeye
Type: Grobe G-120TP
Injuries: 2 Uninjured
HARD LANDING
The student, on an instructional flight, made a hard landing on RWY 17 at Buckeye Airport. Damage incurred will be determined after inspection of the aircraft.
Date: February 19, 2022
Info. Source: ASN, NTSB
Location: White Hills
Type: Van’s RV-7
Injuries: 1 Fatality
CRASH ON APPROACH TO LAND
An experimental Van's RV-7A crashed near Triangle Airpark (AZ50), White Hills, Mohave County, on approach to landing at its destination, Triangle Airpark (AZ50). The aircraft departed Boulder City Municipal Airport, NV (BLD) with a destination of Triangle Airpark. The owner/builder pilot was fatally injured, and the aircraft was destroyed.
The NTSB report only gave the date, and very basic information, and stated a report was in progress.
Date: February 24, 2022
Info. Source: ASN, NTSB
Location: Flagstaff
Type: Van’s RV-8
Injuries: 1 Uninjured
STRUCK BIRDS OR POWER LINE LANDING
ASN indicated the aircraft departed Prescott and struck a bird or powerlines, resulting in substantial damage during landing at Flagstaff. A more complete report is in process. The NTSB report only gave the date, and very basic information, and stated a report was in progress.