CESSNA 175 — Reserve, NM

What happened

The pilot was conducting a personal flight with two passengers over mountainous terrain, with the intention of scouting areas to hunt. The passengers reported that they were directing the pilot where they wanted to look, and while maneuvering, the airplane entered a “sharp” turn and started to descend. They stated it “felt/sounded” like the engine lost power and that the pilot was not able to get full power back. The pilot was able to level the airplane, but it continued to descend into the trees. The passengers also stated it was difficult to see out of the windshield during the flight because the airplane was “tilted up” the entire flight.

Downloaded GPS flight track data showed that in the final 2 minutes of the flight, the airplane turned to the southeast toward rising terrain, and entered a positive rate of climb, which continued until the last recorded GPS data point, which was located about 95 ft south of the accident site.

Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.

Review of sun and moon data for the time and location of the accident revealed that the sun was just above the relative horizon and in the southeast quadrant of the sky. It is likely that when the pilot initiated a climb while on a southeasterly heading, the sun reduced the pilot’s forward visibility and her awareness of rising terrain in the immediate flight path, which led to a collision with the terrain.

Although toxicology testing indicated the pilot used Diphenhydramine at some point before the accident flight, the detected blood levels could not be used to infer the level of impairment. Based on the circumstances of the accident, the effect of Diphenhydramine use was determined not to be a likely factor in the accident.

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