WPR10LA006 · Turpen RV-8
Turpen RV-8 · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) on approach
From Bremerton National Airport (PWT) to Scappoose Industrial Airpark (SPB)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR10LA006
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Turpen RV-8
- Aircraft type
- Turpen RV-8
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N61FS
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Bremerton National Airport (PWT), Bremerton, WATo Scappoose Industrial Airpark (SPB), Scappoose, OR
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · IFR initial approach
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that he was flying to an airport to obtain fuel. He recalled approaching the airport and noting low clouds in the area, but could not recall anything further regarding the circumstances near the end of the flight. Air traffic control information showed that the pilot requested an instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance and was cleared for the localizer approach. FAA radar data and the accident airplane’s onboard instrumentation data showed that although the airplane was on course, it had descended below the minimum descent altitudes and collided with terrain approximately 8 miles from the airport. There was no indication that the pilot had the appropriate instrument approach chart available while conducting the approach. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of a pre-impact anomaly. Toxicology findings are consistent with the pilot using an over-the-counter antihistamine on the day of the accident that has been reported to cause sedation. It is conceivable that the pilot may have been impaired by use of the antihistamine or distracted by the symptoms for which he had been prescribed the medication, however, it could not be conclusively determined whether the pilot's medication contributed to the accident.
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate planning during an instrument approach and failure to maintain the published minimum altitudes, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR10LA006
- Event ID
- 20091005X83600
- Case number
- WPR10LA006
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 5fb735948173870333552351632fdae255ec529d8d1a7989de071b7cba489e3c; retrieved 2026-09-15T13:23:01.035Z.