PRESCOTT, WA, USA
N9793
Grumman-Schweizer G-164A
The pilot told an FAA inspector that while approaching a hill, which he thought he had sufficient altitude to clear, his attention was momentarily diverted to looking down for an object in the cockpit. While he was looking in the cockpit, the aircraft struck the hill about 150 feet from the hilltop.
On June 5, 1996, at approximately 1900 Pacific daylight time, N9793, a Grumman-Schweizer G-164A, was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain southwest of Prescott, Washington. The airline transport pilot (who had commercial privileges for single-engine airplanes) received minor injuries. The aircraft, owned by Moore Aircraft Sales of Prescott, was being operated by Shupe Flying Service of St. Anthony, Idaho under 14 CFR 137 on a local agricultural aerial application flight from Prescott. Visual meteorological conditions existed in the accident area and no flight plan had been filed. According to an FAA inspector who conducted an on-site investigation of the accident: "[The pilot] stated he was returning to base...after spraying his last load for the day....When approaching the top of the hill where the accident occurred, he thought he [h]ad sufficient altitude to clear the hill, and was momentarily distracted looking down in the cockpit, for some object. At that time, his aircraft struck the hill approximately 150 feet short of the top....He admitted he was not looking up and forward when the aircraft struck the ground." The operator stated in his accident report that according to a pilot observation, the weather in the accident area was clear with 20 miles visibility at the time. The operator did not list any restrictions to visibility in his report. The pilot did not submit a first-hand account of the accident to the NTSB.
failure of the pilot to visually clear his flight path, after allowing his attention to be diverted, and his resultant failure to maintain sufficient altitude/clearance from a hill. The hilly terrain was a related factor.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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