History of Flight
On March 13, 2016, at 0227 mountain standard time, a Cessna 182A airplane, N2230G, collided with terrain shortly after departing from Alpine Airport in Alpine, Wyoming. The private pilot and three passengers sustained fatal injuries, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane was registered to and operated by a private individual as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal cross-country flight. The flight was departing from Alpine with an assumed destination of Rigby Airport in Rigby, Idaho. Visual meteorological conditions existed about the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed.
A resident living east of the runway heard the airplane land around 1930 on March 12 and depart about 0230 the next day. The departure sounded normal, but the noise stopped suddenly rather than fading away. A saloon employee recalled that the pilot and passengers arrived around 2000 and left about 0200; the pilot did not drink alcohol while at the tavern.
A Garmin GPSMAP 396 portable GPS receiver was recovered from the wreckage. Recorded data showed the airplane departed runway 31 at 0224:35, made a climbing 360° left turn, then maintained a northwest heading for about 30 seconds. The last four data points, over 7 seconds from 0226:33 to 0226:40, showed speed increasing from 71 to 104 knots and altitude decreasing about 350 ft while entering a descending right turn. The last recorded point, at 0226:40, placed the airplane about 500 ft southwest of the accident site at 5,859 ft msl with a groundspeed of 104 knots.
Personnel and Aircraft Information
The pilot held a private pilot certificate with a single-engine land rating and a third-class medical certificate issued on April 12, 2012, with no limitations. According to the airplane owner, the pilot had recently obtained his license and began borrowing the airplane about two months before the accident; he was checked out by a flight instructor.
The airplane, serial number 51530, was manufactured in 1958 and equipped with a Continental Motors O-470-L engine. The last annual inspection occurred on December 3, 2015, at a total time of about 2,505.6 hours; the engine's last 100-hour inspection was at a tachometer time of 1,393.6 hours. The airplane was not refueled in Alpine; the owner estimated 48 gallons of fuel on board.
Meteorological and Environmental Conditions
A METAR from the airport near the accident time indicated wind from 060° at 4 knots, temperature 6°F, dew point -1°F, and altimeter setting 29.87 inches of mercury. The sun rose at 0739; the moon was about 28° below the northwestern horizon with a waxing crescent phase.
Wreckage and Impact
The accident site was on hard snow-and-gravel terrain along the shoreline of Palisades Reservoir, about 1 mile northwest of the runway. The debris field spanned about 50 yards east-west and 35 yards north-south. The propeller was embedded in a crater about 3 ft deep and 8 ft wide. The entire wreckage sustained thermal damage; the cockpit was consumed by fire.
Examination and Testing
Post-accident examination at a facility in Greeley, Colorado, revealed that the engine had no evidence of mechanical malfunction or failure. All cylinders were secured to the crankcase; the spark plugs showed normal wear and combustion deposits. Engine internal continuity was confirmed, and the combustion chambers were mechanically undamaged with no evidence of foreign object ingestion or detonation. The oil screen was clear of contaminants. Both magnetos were thermally damaged and could not be functionally tested. The propeller blades exhibited chordwise scratching, gouging, and rearward bending. The examination found no evidence of pre-impact mechanical issues with the airframe or engine.
Toxicological Information
The Lincoln County Coroner's Office could not conduct an autopsy due to thermal damage. Toxicological tests performed by the FAA on pilot specimens were negative for ethanol and other tested drugs.