Accident Overview
On November 19, 2021, about 11:30 mountain standard time, a Cessna 182Q Skylane, registration N91AZ, was destroyed when it struck a radio tower guy line and subsequently impacted terrain near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The pilot, who was the sole occupant, sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was being operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 aerial observation flight.
Flight History
The flight departed Odessa Airport-Schlemeyer Field (KODO) in Odessa, Texas, at approximately 09:30 central standard time. The intended destination was Gaines County Airport (KGNC) in Seminole, Texas. The pilot was conducting an aerial pipeline and oil well survey, a task the operator reported the pilot was experienced with. According to automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data, after about 2.5 hours of flight, the airplane entered a modified, single-grid flight track starting 12 nautical miles (nm) northwest of the accident site at an altitude of 400 ft above ground level (agl). The airplane then maneuvered in a west-to-east, south-to-north grid pattern. Approximately 40 minutes later, at 325 ft agl, it skirted south of an FM tower before turning back north to continue the survey. About 6 minutes later, the airplane turned right to the southwest about 9 nm from the tower at an altitude of 447 ft agl. It continued southwest toward the tower and impacted the tower's guy line at about 500 ft agl, then struck terrain. A postcrash fire ensued.
The tower, located about 17 nm northeast of Cavern City Air Terminal (CNM) in Carlsbad, was annotated on an FAA sectional chart as an obstruction marked at 715 ft agl. It was equipped with a light for night operations.
Wreckage and Impact Information
The wreckage was found about 12 nm northwest of Carlsbad on a dirt field at an elevation of about 3,300 ft mean sea level. All four corners of the airplane were accounted for. The first identified contact point was a 50-foot-long section of the radio tower and several broken guy wires attached to ground anchors about 240 ft north of the tower. The right wing was found in two sections: the outboard section about 60 ft north of the tower and the inboard section about 620 ft west of the tower. The debris path contained broken tower structure and red light bulb covers from the tower, leading to the main wreckage site. An impact scar was noted about 30 ft north of the main wreckage.
The main wreckage consisted of the fuselage, empennage, left wing, propeller, and engine, all of which sustained thermal damage. The fuselage was fractured into several pieces, and the tail section was separated from the fuselage, connected only by flight control cables. Remnants of the main landing gear were found in the cockpit area. The left wing showed impact damage and significant thermal damage. The propeller lay within the impact scar about 30 ft north of the fuselage, with a fractured hub. Both blades were found adjacent to the hub: blade No. 1 had no bending, blade No. 2 had minimal bending, and both blades displayed chordwise scratches on the face and bottom. The pitot tube was aligned with a shallow impact scar spanning about 174 inches, consistent with the left-wing leading edge impact. The engine came to rest inverted next to the cockpit.
Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no preimpact mechanical anomalies.
Medical and Pathological Information
An autopsy performed by the University of New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator determined the cause of death was blunt force injuries, and the manner was accidental. The FAA's Bioaeronautical Sciences Research Laboratory conducted toxicological tests on specimens from the pilot, which detected no ethanol or drugs.