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| Date: | Thursday 17 May 2012 |
| Time: | 16:02 |
| Type: |  Glasair III |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N471B |
| MSN: | 3380 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 150 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming I-540 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Mile marker 1.2, West Fork Road, south of Darby, MT -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Troutdale, OR (TTD) |
| Billings, MT (BIL) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot reported that, about 2 hours into a visual flight rules cross-country flight, he enriched the mixture due to indications of excessive cylinder head and exhaust gas temperatures. This resulted in a higher fuel burn than planned, so he changed the flight’s destination to a closer airport. While en route to his amended destination, he encountered instrument meteorological conditions. A subsequent buildup of ice resulted in a loss of 100 knots of airspeed as the airplane entered a controlled descent. The pilot executed a 180-degree turn and broke out of the clouds over a valley. During the next 50 minutes, he made several attempts to exit the valley; however, mountain peak obscuration and a thunderstorm prevented him from flying out of the valley. Now very close to fuel exhaustion, he elected to land on a two-lane highway. During the landing roll, the airplane veered off the side of the road, impacted a tree, slid backwards through a ditch, and collided with a concrete drainage culvert. The airplane sustained damage to the outboard sections of both wings.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s loss of directional control during an emergency landing on a paved highway.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 21 October 2010 | N471B | private | 0 | Colville, Washington | |
sub |
| Runway excursion | ||||||
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-May-2012 10:47 | Geno | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency, ] |
| 19-Aug-2017 16:04 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
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