Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Napa, California 94558
Thursday, March 10, 1994 18:57 PST

The pilot and his passengers departed for an evening dinner flight to another town about 48 miles away. The pilot requested VFR advisories en route, but did not request MSAW monitoring. The initially selected cruise altitude was 2,500 feet msl. He requested a heading to his destination, which was provided by approach control. About 3 minutes later, he was told his destination airport was at 12 o'clock and 8 miles, which he acknowledged. About 1 minute later, radio and radar contact was lost and an ELT signal was received by the local center. According to radar data, during the last 6 minutes of flight the airplane descended from 1,800 feet msl to 1,300 feet with no altitude for the last five radar hits. The airplane collided with a power line on a ridge line at 1,300 feet msl, about 6 miles from the destination airport. The pilot had received an abbreviated weather briefing for the dark night flight. Witnesses reported that stratus clouds were obscuring the ridge line at the time of the accident.

the pilot's selection of an en route descent altitude profile inadequate to clear all terrain along his intended flight path, and, his inadvertent VFR flight into IMC conditions. Factors in the accident were the dark night lighting conditions and the obscured ridge line.