RivetBangers.com

“They were going to come down to Nogales on the private aircraft he had bought,” said Duran. “He had bought that one a few months ago they were super excited.”

Over the phone, she told ABC15 that the couple had already flown the plane multiple times and Ron was an experienced pilot.

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http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2022/09/v ... ident.html

Van's RV-6A, N646RV: Fatal accident occurred September 16, 2022 in Aztec, Yuma County, Arizona
National Transportation Safety Board - Accident Number: WPR22FA348

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Scottsdale, Arizona

Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances and caught on fire.

https://registry.faa.gov/N646RV

Date: 16-SEP-22
Time: 21:00:00Z
Regis#: N646RV
Aircraft Make: VANS
Aircraft Model: RV6
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 2
Flight Crew: 1 Fatal
Pax: 1 Fatal

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Is buying a flying RV aircraft a good idea? In this case it was the 3rd owner. the aircraft appeared to have had plenty of altitude to land safely somewhere as the terrain was relatively flat with but did not. why after ownership of only two months did it fail and end that way? the aircraft had a nose over in 2015 with some substantial damage. do buyers really know everything about the aircraft they are purchasing?

the trouble is that the builds are not standardized and not controlled so people can modify the aircraft as they choose. sometimes, they make mistakes and build in defects and hazards. by the 3rd owner of a previously damaged aircraft, the aircraft is far removed from the original builder.

there is risk in flying anything, but there may be buried risks in flying an experimental aircraft with a history that you do not know intimately from the beginning. there is a lot of rah-rah from advertising sites that promote building and buying experimental aircraft, but people should know that buying an experimental aircraft such as this one, there will be a lot of buried unknowns.

it is strange that no radio calls were made for this event. in a situation such as this, it is best to make radio calls because personnel are standing by to help. if you are busy, try to get at least one signal out that you are having trouble and your approximate position. why did the pilot maneuver away from the road, it appears this would have been a landing option since it was straight, flat and probably not busy. impact gouges in the starter housing both in-plane and aft of the gear. they will need to dig into the engine paperwork.

https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/ ... 105955/pdf

On September 16, 2022, about 1330 mountain standard time (MST), a Vans RV-6A
experimental airplane, N646RV, was destroyed when it crashed near Aztec, Arizona. The pilot
and passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal
Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
According to family members, the pilot and passenger were conducting a cross-country flight
from San Diego, California, to Nogales, Arizona. Automatic Dependent Surveillance –
Broadcast (ADS-B) data indicated the flight departed Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM) at
1209. The flight flew easterly, parallel to Interstate 8 (I-8), and maintained an altitude of about
7,300 ft mean sea level (msl) and 125 knots until it neared Aztec, Arizona. At 1331:19 airspeed
and altitude began decreasing. The pilot subsequently maneuvered away from I-8 for about
one mile and then turned east and south-east before the ADS-B data ended in the vicinity of
the accident location at 1334:28 (figure 1). The airplane impacted desert terrain about one mile
north of I-8 and was destroyed by postimpact fire. There was no evidence the pilot declared an
emergency or made any radio calls prior to the accident.

Buying a flying RV is a GREAT idea!

It keeps good airplanes flying, and provides great value to the buyer.

We've done it twice now. You must be an educated buyer, but I think that applies to any aircraft purchase, not just an EAB.

I believe there is some advantage in knowing the aircraft and engine since it was new and having completed the required flight testing. did the pilot of this aircraft truly understand the sink rate of the RV6 with two up and baggage with the engine out?

RV6A - aircraft down - final report - N646RV

well, they could not determine why the engine failed. if I remember correctly, they had recently purchased this aircraft, and this was their first trip. fully loaded the RV6 glides like a rock and the pilot turned away from his landing spot. when he did this, it sealed their fate.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:

The total loss of engine power for reasons that could not be determined based on available evidence. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s decision to turn away from a suitable emergency landing surface, his failure to maintain adequate airspeed as the airplane neared the ground, and his exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.