N57HPHonda Aircraft HA-420

On November 5, 2024, at 1639 mountain daylight time, a Honda HA-420, N57HP, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Mesa, AZ. The pilot and three passengers were fatally injured, one passenger was seriously injured, and the single occupant of an automobile was fatally injured. The airplane as operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

According to the survivor, the occupants were flying from Falcon Field Airport (FFZ), Mesa, Arizona, to Provo Municipal Airport (PVU), Provo, Utah to attend a college basketball game. They intended to return to FFZ that same night and did not pack any luggage. A friend assisted the occupants as they entered the airplane and prepared for the flight. According to the friend, the pilot had fueled the airplane from a private fuel tank prior to the flight. He did not know how much fuel specifically was added, but the pilot had communicated to him that there was sufficient fuel for the flight, and that he would refuel at PVU before returning. The friend did not observe the airplane take off.

The Air Traffic Control Tower controller cleared the pilot for takeoff from runway 22L, which the pilot acknowledged. No further transmissions were received from the pilot. Security video captured the airplane accelerating on runway 22L until about 3,000 ft from the approach end of the runway (about 2,100 ft of runway remaining). The airplane subsequently began to decelerate and overran the departure end of the runway near centerline. The airplane maintained runway heading and struck the airport perimeter fence located about 600 ft beyond the departure end of the runway before it continued across a roadway. The airplane struck a single vehicle when it entered the roadway, and came to rest upright on the far side of the road. The airplane fuselage fractured forward of the leading edge of the wings and a post impact fire ensued.

The wreckage was examined on-scene before being moved to a secure location for additional evaluation. Flight control continuity was verified from the cockpit to all flight control surfaces and all major components of the airplane were identified at the accident site. There was no evidence of any parts separating from the airplane prior to the airplane impacting the perimeter fence. The control column gust lock was located uninstalled. The airplane brake and anti-skid system was examined, and no anomalies were noted.

The airplane was equipped with a Garmin 3000 Integrated Flight Deck (G3000) avionics suite. The G3000 is capable of recording flight log data on a removable Secure Data (SD) card and Central Maintenance Data (CMD) within the primary flight display (PFD) and multi-function display (MFD). Flight log data is limited to some airplane performance parameters, engine operating parameters, and limited system operating functions. Flight log data does not record any systems warnings. The SD card was removed from the MFD and the flight log data for the accident flight was recovered. The data showed that during takeoff, the airplane had accelerated to about 130 knots before it began to decelerate. No engine anomalies were noted in the data.

Both PFDs and the MFD were removed from the wreckage and sent to the National Transportation Safety Board Recorders Laboratory for download of the CMF data.