Narrative:

The incident on jun/xa/99, occurred after 7 hours of travel from arkadelphia, ar (M89), to roswell, NM (row). In dallas the WX information received was showing scattered ceilings at 4000 ft and said to be improving as we neared our destination. All convective WX at this point was to our north and east. The last fuel stop was lubbock, tx. In lubbock the local dtn system did not indicate any significant WX in the area of our final destination. There were some indications of WX forming south and west of our destination. I expected isolated thunderstorms in the area, as they occur every day in the late afternoon, due to the heat and rising terrain. WX was not a significant factor for the trip. The WX now was clear and looked clear for as far as I could see. At approximately 60 mi from roswell I received ATIS, which reported clear with the winds 120 degrees at 10 KTS. The time at that point was XX10, so the information was current. As we approached 50 mi, I noticed some cloud buildup with precipitation and occasional lightning in our flight path. The showers looked isolated and I figured the WX was between our present position and destination. At that point we started a deviation to the north and attempted to raise flight watch. The attempt to talk to flight watch was unsuccessful. At that point I turned chisim VOR and listened to hiwas. This transmission was noisy and hard to understand, but did understand there was a convective SIGMET issued, but could not understand where. Now we were 40 mi from roswell and contacted approach control with current ATIS and stated our intentions. We made radar contact and were informed that ATIS was not current, and to our south, 1 mi, was a level 6 thunderstorm with others building rapidly over the airport. I informed approach control that we would continue to deviate and make the visual approach from the north. I also informed them that I could not reach flight watch and was unaware of such WX. Approach control stated that the WX had just popped up within the last half hour from 'nowhere' and was not expected. As we were approaching 20 mi on the north side of roswell, approach reported frequent lightning and nickel and dime size hail falling on the airport. We reported the smooth air and WX at our position and our intentions to continue circling until the WX improved. Approach control and I both believed the WX would calm or pass within the next 30-40 mins. Approach control said they would keep us informed of the conditions. At that point I began evaluating the situation and my options. Being concerned with fuel, I estimated that we had 1.5 hours of fuel with 30 mins reserve to safely get to a destination. The problem is roswell is in the middle of everything and close to nothing. The only airport within a safe range was fort sumner being 55 mi. The chart indicated lighting limitations exist and without an airport facility directory could not be sure lighting was available. The only option then was to land and wait out the WX on a private strip directly below our position. It was now approaching dusk and the WX was continuing to deteriorate. The best option seemed to be an off airport landing and landing while we still had some daylight was very much in our best interest. I contacted approach control and stated our intentions of landing and waiting for the WX to pass. They offered no other suggestions. We had 3 options: the el paso natural gas strip, the service road to el paso natural gas, or the highway. The highway appeared to be under construction, so no more thought went toward landing on the highway. The private strip seemed to be a safe option. I circled the strip and made a low pass to check the wind and terrain. Everything appeared safe, so I attempted to land. Upon touchdown, the surface was so rough I aborted the landing and executed a go around. The only option now was the service road. I again made a low pass to observe the landing surface. The road was fairly narrow, I knew there would not be much room for error, but still concluded everything to be safe for landing. As I made the approach from the west to east, I had a slight crosswind from the south. Upon touchdown I lost sight of the road directly in front of me and had to depend on the edge of the road and right main wheel for guidance. When the aircraft drifted to the right, the wheel entered the ditch on the right side of the road. I then corrected and the aircraft immediately went to the left side of the road. Wanting to maintain positive control of the aircraft I attempted to execute a go around, but being too slow with full flap realized the plane was not going to fly, I continued to fly and maintain control into the field on the left side of the road until the aircraft came to a full stop. Now looking back at the incident I conclude that there were a couple of things that could have been executed more precisely, but under the circumstances could have been much, much worse. There were minor damages to the aircraft including: tears in the fabric under the fuselage and horizontal stabilizer and damage to and around the housing of the left wing landing light. Contributing factors: WX, visibility, limitations on fuel, limitations on alternates, density altitude, time. Human factors: fatigue, pressure to make a decision before nightfall and before the WX prevailed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: AN INSTRUCTOR PLT AND HIS STUDENT FLYING A MAULE 7 FROM M89 TO ROW ENCOUNTER WX ENRTE AND ELECT TO MAKE AN OFF ARPT LNDG.

Narrative: THE INCIDENT ON JUN/XA/99, OCCURRED AFTER 7 HRS OF TRAVEL FROM ARKADELPHIA, AR (M89), TO ROSWELL, NM (ROW). IN DALLAS THE WX INFO RECEIVED WAS SHOWING SCATTERED CEILINGS AT 4000 FT AND SAID TO BE IMPROVING AS WE NEARED OUR DEST. ALL CONVECTIVE WX AT THIS POINT WAS TO OUR N AND E. THE LAST FUEL STOP WAS LUBBOCK, TX. IN LUBBOCK THE LCL DTN SYS DID NOT INDICATE ANY SIGNIFICANT WX IN THE AREA OF OUR FINAL DEST. THERE WERE SOME INDICATIONS OF WX FORMING S AND W OF OUR DEST. I EXPECTED ISOLATED TSTMS IN THE AREA, AS THEY OCCUR EVERY DAY IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, DUE TO THE HEAT AND RISING TERRAIN. WX WAS NOT A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR FOR THE TRIP. THE WX NOW WAS CLR AND LOOKED CLR FOR AS FAR AS I COULD SEE. AT APPROX 60 MI FROM ROSWELL I RECEIVED ATIS, WHICH RPTED CLR WITH THE WINDS 120 DEGS AT 10 KTS. THE TIME AT THAT POINT WAS XX10, SO THE INFO WAS CURRENT. AS WE APCHED 50 MI, I NOTICED SOME CLOUD BUILDUP WITH PRECIPITATION AND OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING IN OUR FLT PATH. THE SHOWERS LOOKED ISOLATED AND I FIGURED THE WX WAS BTWN OUR PRESENT POS AND DEST. AT THAT POINT WE STARTED A DEV TO THE N AND ATTEMPTED TO RAISE FLT WATCH. THE ATTEMPT TO TALK TO FLT WATCH WAS UNSUCCESSFUL. AT THAT POINT I TURNED CHISIM VOR AND LISTENED TO HIWAS. THIS XMISSION WAS NOISY AND HARD TO UNDERSTAND, BUT DID UNDERSTAND THERE WAS A CONVECTIVE SIGMET ISSUED, BUT COULD NOT UNDERSTAND WHERE. NOW WE WERE 40 MI FROM ROSWELL AND CONTACTED APCH CTL WITH CURRENT ATIS AND STATED OUR INTENTIONS. WE MADE RADAR CONTACT AND WERE INFORMED THAT ATIS WAS NOT CURRENT, AND TO OUR S, 1 MI, WAS A LEVEL 6 TSTM WITH OTHERS BUILDING RAPIDLY OVER THE ARPT. I INFORMED APCH CTL THAT WE WOULD CONTINUE TO DEVIATE AND MAKE THE VISUAL APCH FROM THE N. I ALSO INFORMED THEM THAT I COULD NOT REACH FLT WATCH AND WAS UNAWARE OF SUCH WX. APCH CTL STATED THAT THE WX HAD JUST POPPED UP WITHIN THE LAST HALF HR FROM 'NOWHERE' AND WAS NOT EXPECTED. AS WE WERE APCHING 20 MI ON THE N SIDE OF ROSWELL, APCH RPTED FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND NICKEL AND DIME SIZE HAIL FALLING ON THE ARPT. WE RPTED THE SMOOTH AIR AND WX AT OUR POS AND OUR INTENTIONS TO CONTINUE CIRCLING UNTIL THE WX IMPROVED. APCH CTL AND I BOTH BELIEVED THE WX WOULD CALM OR PASS WITHIN THE NEXT 30-40 MINS. APCH CTL SAID THEY WOULD KEEP US INFORMED OF THE CONDITIONS. AT THAT POINT I BEGAN EVALUATING THE SIT AND MY OPTIONS. BEING CONCERNED WITH FUEL, I ESTIMATED THAT WE HAD 1.5 HRS OF FUEL WITH 30 MINS RESERVE TO SAFELY GET TO A DEST. THE PROB IS ROSWELL IS IN THE MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING AND CLOSE TO NOTHING. THE ONLY ARPT WITHIN A SAFE RANGE WAS FORT SUMNER BEING 55 MI. THE CHART INDICATED LIGHTING LIMITATIONS EXIST AND WITHOUT AN ARPT FACILITY DIRECTORY COULD NOT BE SURE LIGHTING WAS AVAILABLE. THE ONLY OPTION THEN WAS TO LAND AND WAIT OUT THE WX ON A PVT STRIP DIRECTLY BELOW OUR POS. IT WAS NOW APCHING DUSK AND THE WX WAS CONTINUING TO DETERIORATE. THE BEST OPTION SEEMED TO BE AN OFF ARPT LNDG AND LNDG WHILE WE STILL HAD SOME DAYLIGHT WAS VERY MUCH IN OUR BEST INTEREST. I CONTACTED APCH CTL AND STATED OUR INTENTIONS OF LNDG AND WAITING FOR THE WX TO PASS. THEY OFFERED NO OTHER SUGGESTIONS. WE HAD 3 OPTIONS: THE EL PASO NATURAL GAS STRIP, THE SVC ROAD TO EL PASO NATURAL GAS, OR THE HWY. THE HWY APPEARED TO BE UNDER CONSTRUCTION, SO NO MORE THOUGHT WENT TOWARD LNDG ON THE HWY. THE PVT STRIP SEEMED TO BE A SAFE OPTION. I CIRCLED THE STRIP AND MADE A LOW PASS TO CHK THE WIND AND TERRAIN. EVERYTHING APPEARED SAFE, SO I ATTEMPTED TO LAND. UPON TOUCHDOWN, THE SURFACE WAS SO ROUGH I ABORTED THE LNDG AND EXECUTED A GAR. THE ONLY OPTION NOW WAS THE SVC ROAD. I AGAIN MADE A LOW PASS TO OBSERVE THE LNDG SURFACE. THE ROAD WAS FAIRLY NARROW, I KNEW THERE WOULD NOT BE MUCH ROOM FOR ERROR, BUT STILL CONCLUDED EVERYTHING TO BE SAFE FOR LNDG. AS I MADE THE APCH FROM THE W TO E, I HAD A SLIGHT XWIND FROM THE S. UPON TOUCHDOWN I LOST SIGHT OF THE ROAD DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME AND HAD TO DEPEND ON THE EDGE OF THE ROAD AND R MAIN WHEEL FOR GUIDANCE. WHEN THE ACFT DRIFTED TO THE R, THE WHEEL ENTERED THE DITCH ON THE R SIDE OF THE ROAD. I THEN CORRECTED AND THE ACFT IMMEDIATELY WENT TO THE L SIDE OF THE ROAD. WANTING TO MAINTAIN POSITIVE CTL OF THE ACFT I ATTEMPTED TO EXECUTE A GAR, BUT BEING TOO SLOW WITH FULL FLAP REALIZED THE PLANE WAS NOT GOING TO FLY, I CONTINUED TO FLY AND MAINTAIN CTL INTO THE FIELD ON THE L SIDE OF THE ROAD UNTIL THE ACFT CAME TO A FULL STOP. NOW LOOKING BACK AT THE INCIDENT I CONCLUDE THAT THERE WERE A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN EXECUTED MORE PRECISELY, BUT UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH, MUCH WORSE. THERE WERE MINOR DAMAGES TO THE ACFT INCLUDING: TEARS IN THE FABRIC UNDER THE FUSELAGE AND HORIZ STABILIZER AND DAMAGE TO AND AROUND THE HOUSING OF THE L WING LNDG LIGHT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: WX, VISIBILITY, LIMITATIONS ON FUEL, LIMITATIONS ON ALTERNATES, DENSITY ALT, TIME. HUMAN FACTORS: FATIGUE, PRESSURE TO MAKE A DECISION BEFORE NIGHTFALL AND BEFORE THE WX PREVAILED.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.