N6671V

On April 26, 2001, at approximately 1610 mountain daylight time, a Bellanca BL17-30, N6671V, was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain during an aborted landing on a county road, 12 miles west of Columbus, New Mexico. The private pilot and passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. No flight plan was filed for this personal flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight departed Deming Municipal Airport, Deming, New Mexico, at approximately 1555.

According to the pilot, he was preparing to land westbound on Carzelia Loop Road when a "dust devil" struck the airplane. As he applied full power to abort his landing, a gust of wind struck the airplane causing it to drift to the south of the road towards a set of power lines. He "pulled up" and tried to maneuver the airplane over the power lines, however, the airplane stalled and impacted the ditch on the north side of the road. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, empennage, right wing tip, nose landing gear, both left and right main landing gear and propeller. The winds at the time of the accident were light and variable at 4 knots.