Pilot Debrief

AIRPLANE FACTORY (PTY) LTD THE SLING near Daggett, CA — 2014-04-30

Final reportWPR14LA177
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Date
2014-04-30
Location
Daggett, CA, USA
Airport
KDAG
Aircraft
AIRPLANE FACTORY (PTY) LTD THE SLING
Registration
N511NG
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Serious
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Descent

Probable cause

The pilots’ failure to maintain clearance from terrain while operating in dark night, visual meteorological conditions. Contributing to the accident was the pilots’ failure to enable the aural terrain warning system.

NTSB narrative

The sport pilot and flight instructor were approaching the destination airport at the conclusion of a night cross-country flight in the light sport airplane. The sport pilot stated that, about 10 miles southwest of the airport, they could clearly see the airport lights and began a visual descent from 5,500 ft mean sea level. During the descent, the airplane collided with terrain about 5 miles from the airport and came to a stop. The sport pilot egressed and called for emergency services. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Visual meteorological conditions were present in the area with visibility of 10 miles. Astronomical information showed that moonset had occurred about 3.5 hours before the accident. The accident occurred in a very sparsely populated area of high desert, with no ground lighting. The terrain and dark night conditions would have prevented both pilots from maintaining a visual reference to the terrain. Examination of the airplane's Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS) revealed that the aural terrain warning function was not enabled, though the system still depicted a moving map display with terrain information. If the aural terrain warning function had been enabled, the pilots would have been alerted, and action could have been taken in sufficient time to maintain terrain clearance.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Controlled flight into terrain
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have aborted the descent when terrain was not visually confirmed.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Photos
  • 7 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents7

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