Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On January 9, 2011, approximately 1340 mountain standard time, a single-engine Piper PA 46-350P, N727MC, impacted mountainous terrain in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Westcliffe, Colorado. The private pilot and passenger were both fatally injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was owned and operated by a private individual under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a cross-country flight. The airplane descended through instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan. The airplane departed the Phoenix-Deer Valley Airport (DVT), Phoenix, Arizona, approximately 1200 and was en route to the Pueblo Memorial Airport (PUB), Pueblo, Colorado.

The airplane disappeared from radar while en route to PUB. An alert notice (ALNOT) was issued for the missing airplane and a search began. On the afternoon of December 10, 2011, search teams located the airplane.

A translation of radar data obtained from the FAA depicted the airplane level at FL 250 while en route to DREXL. At 1329:46, The airplane descended from FL250 at about 1,200 feet per minute (fpm). At 1333:25, the airplane turned right and increased the descent rate to approximately 3,000 fpm at an altitude reading of 17,600 feet. At 1333:54, the airplane climbed about 5,000 fpm to approximately 19,200 feet. The airplane then descended at a rate in excess of 7,000 fpm with the last radar return at 1334:33 at an altitude of 12,200 feet (about 2,500 feet above ground level).

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot, age 66, held a private pilot certificate for airplane single-engine land, airplane multi-engine land, and instrument airplane. A review of the pilot’s log book revealed that he had logged over 3,030 hours, with at least 467 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane. The pilot’s last flight review was completed on October 2, 2008. On July 17, 2009, the pilot received a JetProp directed checkout in the JetProp DLX airplane. In addition, the pilot flew an instrument proficiency check on June 10, 2010. Neither the JetProp checkout nor the instrument check were flown as a flight review. On February 26, 2009, the pilot was issued a third class medical certificate with the restriction, “must wear corrective lenses for near and distant vision.”

In the previous year, the pilot had logged 37 instrument approaches. A majority of the approaches (29), in addition to the pilot’s instrument proficiency flight, were flown in a Mooney M20K. The pilot’s Mooney had the original navigation equipment with the addition of a Garmin GNS 530W GPS/Nav/Comm and a Garmin GDL 69A Satellite Weather receiver.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

The single-engine airplane, serial number 4636085, was manufactured in 1997. The airplane was powered by a 750 horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-35 engine, driving a Hartzell four-bladed constant speed HC-E4N-3N propeller, that was installed on October 19, 200