12 Jun 2011: MOONEY AIRCRAFT CORP. M20K — PACIFIC MEDICAL COMMUNICATION INC DBA

12 Jun 2011: MOONEY AIRCRAFT CORP. M20K — PACIFIC MEDICAL COMMUNICATION INC DBA

No fatalities • Page, AZ, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's selection of the wrong taxi route and failure to follow prescribed taxi procedures.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The pilot reported that he was taxiing from the transient parking towards the runway for takeoff. It was dusk at the time and he was proceeding at a walking pace (2-3 miles per hour) to the taxiway when he encountered a large ditch at the end of the tarmac. The airplane rolled into the ditch bending the prop and the empennage. The pilot commented that there were no signs, reflectors, warnings, or other indications that the ditch was there. The airport manager reported that the taxi route from the transient area is clearly marked with in ground reflectors which lead to a lit taxiway and then the runway. The manager stated that it appears that from the transient parking area where the pilot was parked he proceeded directly to the taxiway, crossing a set of double solid lines that demarcate the taxiway edge, and crossed into a helicopter operating/parking area. From there he crossed a marked service road, past a helicopter landing pad, and past a lit windsock and into the drainage ditch. The airport manager further reported that as the area is clearly marked and only intended for helicopter traffic there is no extra signage warning of the ditch.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Compliance w/ procedure
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 240/05kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.