MOONEY M20B — Page, AZ

What happened

The commercial pilot was conducting a personal cross-country flight. The airplane was reported overdue, and search and rescue personnel discovered the wreckage 2 days later on a canyon hillside. The pilot had not filed a flight plan, he did not communicate with air traffic control during the flight, and no radar data were available to identify the flight route. Therefore, the pilot's flight planning and intentions could not be determined. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.

No significant weather or turbulence was reported or forecast in the vicinity of the accident site around the time of the accident. However, high-density altitude conditions existed in the accident area about the time of the accident. Examination of the accident site revealed that the airplane impacted the canyon hillside with the wings parallel to the hillside in an upright attitude, consistent with a left banking turn. It is likely that the pilot flew into the canyon and was maneuvering around terrain and miscalculated the airplane's turning capability. Further, the airplane's climb performance, as the pilot was attempting to turn and climb above the terrain, was likely degraded due to the high-density altitude conditions.

Toxicological tests of the pilot detected ethanol, n-propanol, amlodipine, and salicylate. However, the ethanol level was well below the legal limit and was unlikely acutely impairing at the time of the accident, and the n-propanol was likely due to postmortem production. Amlodipine and salicylate are not directly impairing and, thus, would not have posed a flight safety hazard.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.