WPR11LA315 · Beech V35B
Adaptive Aero Beech V35B · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) on approach
From Seligman Airport (P23) to Monument Valley Airport (UT25)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR11LA315
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech V35B
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N1735W
- Operator
- Adaptive Aero
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Seligman Airport (P23), Seligman, AZTo Monument Valley Airport (UT25), Monument Valley, UT
- 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 · VFR go-around
- 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 power plant
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that the airplane was on short final approach with the landing gear down when he noted that he was mistakenly attempting to land at an abandoned airport that was not suitable for landing but was near his planned destination. He initiated a go-around; however, the airplane did not climb and subsequently stalled about 5 feet above ground level and collided with the terrain. The pilot stated that he had the mixture in the full rich position. He stated his belief that the engine did not respond to the request for power as the mixture was too rich for the high density altitude (8,000 feet). The manufacturer’s guidance advises pilots to set the mixture control to the full rich position, or as required by field elevation. If the mixture had been appropriately set for the high density altitude conditions, the engine likely would have had adequate power for a successful go-around.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to follow the airplane manufacturer’s mixture setting guidance while landing in high density altitude conditions.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR11LA315
- Event ID
- 20110707X21900
- Case number
- WPR11LA315
- 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: 0f05235beb3bd41ab33d9630a38fdd42b922b42e8a80575db6d6d456a7ef8266; retrieved 2026-09-15T16:25:07.484Z.