N91AZCessna 182Q

On November 19, 2021, about 1130 mountain standard time, a Cessna 182Q Skylane, N91AZ, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 aerial observation flight.

The pilot departed Odessa Airport-Schlemeyer Field (KODO) Odessa, Texas, about 0930 central standard time for an aerial pipeline and oil well survey, with an intended destination of Gaines County Airport, (KGNC), Seminole, Texas. The operator reported that the pilot had experience with this pipeline survey flight. According to automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data, about 2.5 hours into the flight, the airplane entered a modified, single-grid flight track that started 12 nautical miles (nm) northwest of the accident site at an altitude of 400 ft agl. The airplane continued to maneuver west to east, in a south to north grid pattern (Figure 1).

12 nm

Figure 1. View of ADS-B flight track showing single grid flight track.

About 40 minutes later, at an altitude of 325 ft agl, the airplane skirted around an FM tower to the south before it maneuvered back to the north to continue its aerial survey. About 6 minutes later, the airplane turned right to the southwest about 9 nm from the tower and at an altitude of about 447 agl. The airplane continued southwest towards the tower and impacted the tower’s guy line at an altitude of about 500 agl and impacted terrain. A postcrash fire ensued, and the fuselage sustained substantial thermal damage.

The tower, which was about 17 nm northeast of the Cavern City Air Terminal (CNM), Carlsbad, New Mexico, was annotated on a FAA sectional chart as an obstruction marked at 715 ft agl (Figure 2). The tower was marked with a light for night operations.

17 nm

Figure 2. Excerpt of sectional depicting tower in relation to Cavern City Air Terminal (CNM)

The accident airplane was found about 12 nm northwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico, on a dirt field at a field elevation of about 3,300 ft mean sea level. All four corners of the airplane were accounted for at the accident site. The first identified contact point was identified by a 50-foot-long section of a radio tower and several broken guy wires attached to their respective ground anchor about 240 ft north of the radio tower. The right wing was in two sections; the outboard section of the right wing was located about 60 ft north of the tower while the inboard section was located about 620 ft west of the tower (Figure 3). The debris path was marked by broken pieces of tower structure and red colored light bulb covers, also from the tower, that were scattered throughout the debris field from the tower to the main wreckage site. An impact scar was in the debris path about 30 ft north of the main wreckage.

Figure 3. View of map depicting location of main wreckage components in relation to the FM tower.

The main wreckage comprised of the fuselage, empennage, left wing, propeller, and engine, sustained thermal damage (Figure 4). The fuselage was fractured into several pieces and the tail section was separated from the fuselage, connected only by flight control cables to the cockpit area. Remnants of the main landing gear were found within the cockpit area. Most of the left wing had impact damage and significant thermal damage. The propeller was located within the impact scar about 30 ft north of the fuselage. The propeller hub was fractured consistent with impact damage. Both blades were found adjacent the hub and displayed no bending to blade No.1 and minimal bending to blade No.2; both blades had chordwise scratches on the face and bottom of each blade. The pitot tube was found in line with a shallow impact scar that spanned about 174 inches, consistent with the impact of the left-wing leading edge. The engine came to rest inverted, adjacent to the cockpit.

Figure 4. View of main wreckage and FM tower.

Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine did not reveal any preimpact mechanical anomalies.

The pilot’s autopsy was performed by a medical investigator from the University of New Mexico, Office of the Medical Investigator. According to the pilot’s autopsy report, the cause of death was blunt force injuries, and the manner of death was accidental.

The FAA's Bioaeronautical Sciences Research Laboratory, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, performed toxicological tests on specimens recovered from the pilot. The pilot’s postmortem toxicological testing did not detect any ethanol or drugs.