30 Aug 2012: CHAMPION 7FC

30 Aug 2012: CHAMPION 7FC — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Terrebonne, OR, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's physical impairment, which adversely affected his ability to properly operate the airplane.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The private pilot was attempting to land his airplane at night on the unlighted, unpaved private airstrip where he based the airplane. The airstrip was situated in a rural area, about 5 miles from the nearest town. The airstrip was oriented approximately east-west, atop a ridge that was oriented northeast-southwest. The ridge rose approximately 300 feet above the surrounding terrain. According to the pilot, during his final approach to the airstrip, he encountered a downdraft, and the airplane impacted the southwest side of the ridge. According to information provided by first responders, the airplane struck a tree and then terrain, and came to rest after a very short distance. The right wing was crushed and displaced aft, and the fuselage also sustained substantial damage. The pilot extracted himself from the wreckage, and utilized his mobile phone to summon assistance, since he was seriously injured. About 2 hours after the accident, he was airlifted to a hospital. Hospital medical personnel interviews and blood tests of the pilot conducted at least 3 hours after the accident revealed that the pilot appeared intoxicated, admitted to using methadone and morphine on a daily basis, and had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.246 grams/deciliter. FAA regulations prohibit operation of an aircraft by persons with blood alcohol concentrations of 0.040 grams/deciliter or greater. The pilot did not hold a valid FAA medical certificate. He also stated that he did not experience any mechanical deficiencies or failures of the airplane prior to the impact.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 340/05kt, 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.