EAGLE NEST, NM, USA
N182X
CESSNA 182R
DURING A CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT THE PILOT WAS USING A ROAD TO ASSIST IN HIS NAVIGATION. THE ROAD MADE A SHARP TURN, AND THE PILOT LOST SIGHT OF IT, AND TURNED TOWARD HIGHER TERRAIN. AS HE WAS MANEUVERING IN AN ATTEMPT TO TURN BACK, HE NOTICED THAT HE WAS LOSING ALTITUDE. DURING THE LOSS OF ALTITUDE, THE STALL WARNING HORN SOUNDED. THE AIRCRAFT CONTINUED TO DESCEND IN A LEVEL ATTITUDE UNTIL IT IMPACTED THE TREES.
On December 16, 1994, approximately 1545 mountain standard time, a Cessna 182R, N182X, was destroyed while maneuvering near Eagle Nest, Colorado. The airplane, operated by a fixed base operator and rented to the private pilot, was on a personal cross country flight. The flight was being flown on a visual flight rules flight plan and visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The pilot received serious injuries and the two passengers received minor injuries. According to the pilot, the flight had originated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, en route to Angle Fire, New Mexico, with a planned refueling stop in Clayton, New Mexico. After topping off the aircraft with fuel at Clayton, the flight departed direct to the Cimmaron VORTAC. The pilot stated that after Cimmaron, it was his intention to follow a road (State Highway 64) through a mountain pass to Angle Fire. The pilot and the passengers stated that they lost sight of the road where it made a sharp bend and the pilot turned the wrong way into rising terrain. The pilot stated that, at that point, the airplane developed a descent rate and that the "stall warning went off;" he was unable to arrest the aircraft's descent and the airplane was stalled into the tops of the trees. One passenger walked out of the site after dark and directed rescuers back to the airplane. The rescuers and remaining survivors spent the night at the 9,000 foot elevation accident site, and were extracted by helicopter the following morning.
THE PILOT'S FLIGHT INTO RISING TERRAIN WITHOUT SUFFICIENT ALTITUDE AND CLIMB PERFORMANCE AVAILABLE TO CLEAR THE TREES AND TERRAIN. A FACTOR WAS THE PILOT BECOMING LOST AND DISORIENTED.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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