Bellanca 17-30A accident near Rock Springs, WY
On May 18, 2011, a Bellanca 17-30A (airplane) was involved in an accident near Rock Springs, WY. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- May 18, 2011
- Place
- Rock Springs, WY
- Aircraft
- Bellanca 17-30A · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 42.174°N, 108.791°W
- NTSB ID
- 20110519X55356
Official records · WPR11FA228
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On May 18, 2011, about 1115 mountain daylight time, a Bellanca 17-30A Viking, N93577, impacted the terrain about 40 miles northeast of Rock Springs, Wyoming. The private pilot and his passenger were killed in the accident, and the airplane, which was owned and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal cross-country flight, which departed Pinedale, Wyoming, about 37 minutes prior to the accident, was en route to Fort Collins, Colorado. At the time of the accident, the pilot was flying through an area of multiple layered overcast and broken cloud formations and light rain. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an Emergency Locator Transmitter activation. On May 17, the day prior to the accident, at 1217, the pilot contacted the Lockheed Martin Flight Service Station, and advised the briefer that he was at Pinedale, Wyoming, and that he was looking to fly via visual flight rules (VFR) to Fort Collins, Colorado. The pilot told the briefer that he was looking at departing sometime in the following four hours, and then stated that he (the pilot) did not think it was looking "particularly good." The pilot then referred to some raw data weather information that he was looking at while he was on the call, and commented that it appeared to him that there was marginal VFR weather around Lander, Wyoming, and that Rock Springs appeared to be having instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions. The briefer then asked the pilot if he wanted a standard briefing, or just an abbreviated briefing,
Probable cause
The pilot’s decision to continue flight into an area of known adverse weather, which resulted in an accumulation of structural ice that led to a loss of control and in-flight breakup. Also causal was the pilot’s inadequate preflight weather planning.
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Browse: Wyoming · Bellanca aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
