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| Date: | Sunday 8 September 2024 |
| Time: | 15:33 |
| Type: |  Bellanca 7GCBC Citabria |
| Owner/operator: | N47WD LLC |
| Registration: | N36008 |
| MSN: | 268-73 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1973 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Rifle Garfield County Airport (RIL/KRIL), Rifle, CO -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | Richfield Municipal Airport, UT (KRIF) |
| Rifle-Garfield County Regional Airport, CO (KRIL) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
On September 8, 2024, at 1533 mountain daylight time, a Bellanca 7GCAA airplane, N36008, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Rifle, Colorado. The pilot sustained serious injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 positioning flight.
According to the owner, he had recently taken ownership of the airplane and hired a pilot to relocate it from California to Colorado.
According to the pilot, he departed from Placerville Airport (PVF), Placerville, California, with the airplane’s fuel gauges both showing about ¾ full. He then landed at Yerington Municipal Airport (O43), Yerington, Nevada, and added 13.76 gallons of 100LL fuel so that both fuel tanks were full. He departed O43 and flew for about 3 hours to Richfield Municipal Airport (RIF), Richfield, Utah, for another fuel stop where he added 27.71 gallons of 100LL and the fuel tanks “were completely full.” The final leg of the flight was to Rifle Garfield County Airport (RIL), Rifle, Colorado, and he planned that the time en route would be 2.5 hours. During the flight, after crossing the Utah-Colorado border, he experienced continuous updrafts and downdrafts, constant light turbulence, and occasional moderate turbulence. About 5 nautical miles (nm) from the accident site, the engine sputtered so he checked the carburetor heat, mixture setting, and confirmed the fuel selector valve was on. Due to the turbulent air, the fuel gauges were bouncing so much that he could not read the fuel level. After checking the weather at RIL, the engine experienced a total loss of power while flying above Interstate 70. He maneuvered the airplane north of I-70 and intended to make a forced landing on a north-south dirt road. While turning base to final for the dirt road he noticed power lines and pitched up to avoid a collision. The airplane then stalled about 200 ft above ground level (agl), impacted terrain in a nose low attitude, and nosed over. The pilot egressed under his own power and was assisted by bystanders and first responders. He instructed the bystanders to turn off the airplane’s electrical switches.
The pilot was utilizing the application Foreflight, which recorded a flight track log for each of the three flight legs. The track log showed at 1527, about 12 nm from RIL and about 3,300 ft agl, the airplane made a left 360° turn and descended to about 2,300 ft agl. The airplane then continued east toward RIL and descended. At 1532, while crossing over I-70 at 200 ft agl, the airplane made a gradual left turn, then cleared the powerlines at 100 ft agl. The airplane came to rest in a field about 100 yards east of the dirt road.
A local pilot was notified of the accident and arrived at the site about 2 hours later. He stated that there was a ground scar about 20 ft from the wreckage and that the airplane was inverted. He did not smell any fuel on the ground near the airplane and did not observe any leaking fuel. He also checked the fuel caps which remained secure.
On September 16, 2024, the airplane was recovered from the accident site. The recovery personnel stated that the fuel caps were secure, the fuel tanks were intact, and there was no fuel leaking from the airplane. They removed about 2 gallons of fuel from the airplane.
The pilot documented the engine’s tachometer time at the beginning of the first flight, which was 1,251.69 hours. The tachometer time at before the second flight was 1,252.54 hours. The tachometer time at the accident site was 1,257.98 hours.
The most recent annual inspection was completed on October 4, 2023, at tachometer time of 1,250.25 hours. There were no unresolved discrepancies noted in the maintenance logbooks.
A detailed examination of the airplane is pending.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1feuekg/havent_seen_anything_about_this/
NTSB
https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=36008
Location
Images:
Photo: NTSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Sep-2024 15:31 | Captain Adam | Added |
| 12-Sep-2024 15:32 | Captain Adam | Updated [Aircraft type, ] |
| 04-Oct-2024 19:12 | Captain Adam | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Nature, Departure airport, Narrative, Category, Accident report, ] |
| 13-Oct-2024 18:05 | ASN | Updated [Photo, ] |
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