ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 163967
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| Date: | Friday 14 February 2014 |
| Time: | 14:23 |
| Type: |  Cirrus SR22 |
| Owner/operator: | ZBA LLC |
| Registration: | N18DN |
| MSN: | 0096 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2001 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 2296 hours |
| Engine model: | Continental IO-550-N |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Incident |
| Location: | Near Gunnison, CO -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Denver-Centennial Airport, CO (APA/KAPA) |
| Colorado City Municipal Airport, AZ (KAZC) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Following a declared mayday due to icing conditions, the aircraft, a Cirrus SR22, experienced an emergency CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System) landing about 21 miles northeast of Gunnison, Colorado. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the sole pilot onboard was not injured.
About 90 minutes before the flight, the pilot received a preflight weather briefing, which included an advisory for moderate icing between the freezing level (expected to be at or below 10,000 ft mean sea level [msl]) and 22,000 ft msl. The pilot reported that the airplane encountered instrument meteorological conditions with light icing accumulation about 45 minutes into the flight. The pilot advised an air traffic controller of the situation when the airplane was operating about 15,900 ft msl; however, before he had decided on an alternate route of flight, the icing conditions worsened, and the airplane was unable to maintain altitude. The controller noted that this was the first icing report in that vicinity although there had been earlier reports of light to moderate icing about 50 miles west of the airplane's position. Unsure of the height of the cloud bases in relation to the mountainous terrain below the airplane's flightpath, the pilot chose to deploy the parachute system. The airplane impacted a mountainside in about 10 ft of snow at an elevation of 11,000 ft msl. The pilot reported no preincident failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Available weather data at the time of the accident indicated that the freezing level was about 10,000 ft msl with clouds tops about 18,000 ft msl around the incident site.
Probable Cause and Findings
The pilot's improper decision to initiate the flight into an area with forecast icing conditions, which resulted in an encounter with in-flight icing conditions that prevented the airplane from being able to maintain altitude.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/small-plane-ices-up-near-gunnison-pilot-deploys-parachute-system
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N18DN
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=18DN
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Feb-2014 23:20 | Geno | Added |
| 19-Feb-2014 06:27 | harro | Updated [Date] |
| 28-Feb-2014 02:01 | Geno | Updated [Time, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 10-Nov-2022 20:26 | harro | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 10-Nov-2022 20:27 | harro | Updated [Source] |
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