Cessna 320 — Eagle Mountain, UT

What happened

The pilot was conducting an aerial photography flight at a planned altitude of 7,255 ft over a level area just west of rising mountainous terrain. The planned flight was to accomplish 3 photo runs over the area. At the conclusion of the 3 runs, the pilot was to return to the airport located to the east for fuel. Onboard data indicated that at the conclusion of the second run traveling from west to east, the airplane made a shallow right turn to the southeast and continued toward mountainous terrain and in the general direction of the airport. After traveling over mountainous terrain, the airplane initiated a left turn at an altitude about 800 ft above the terrain. This turn was possibly performed to maneuver the airplane back to the northwest to the photo area and accomplish the final photo run. During the turn, the airplane's bank angle increased as the airplane climbed slightly and accelerated; the last recorded data showed the airplane at 177 knots groundspeed in an approximate 70° left bank. On site wreckage documentation revealed that the airplane collided with the terrain in a near vertical nose-down attitude suggesting that the airplane exceeded its critical angle of attack and aerodynamically stalled at an altitude too low for the pilot to recover from.

Examination revealed no anomalies with the airframe and engines that would have precluded normal operation, and damage signatures indicated that the engines were producing power at the time of the accident.

The pilot had several airspace violations in the year before the accident. A psychological evaluation conducted over 15 years before the accident, when the pilot first sought Federal Aviation Administration medical certification, indicated that the pilot had an "impulsive personality" and that he "sought excitement;" however, outside of these instances, there was no other information available that provided insight into the pilot's behavior or decision-making. It could not be determined whether the pilot's mental health contributed to this accident.

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