Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Catalina Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Avalon, California 90704
Tuesady, April 5, 1994 18:46 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After an over water flight to Catalina Island, the pilot reported having engine trouble and that he was attempting to return to the Catalina airport. The airport is located on a mountain top in an area of the island with steep mountainous terrain. A witness saw the aircraft and heard the engine repeatedly accelerate to full power, interrupted by sputtering and periods of silence. A second witness reported seeing the aircraft in a turn attempting to gain altitude as it approached the higher terrain. Ten minutes later, fire department units responding to reports of a brush fire found the burning aircraft wreckage. The weather at the time included a 20 degree spread between dew point and ambient temperature. Carburetor icing probability charts revealed the aircraft had flown in conditions conducive to moderate icing at cruise power and serious icing at glide power.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure of the pilot to apply carburetor heat as appropriate while conducting flight in conditions conducive for carburetor icing. A factor in the accident was the unsuitable steep mountainous terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/5/1994 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1846 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | AVALON |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90704 |
| Event Date Year | 1994 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | CATALINA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | AVX |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 275 |
| Airport Elevation | 1602 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1650 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 150 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 57 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 33 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 14 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 250 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 5 1994 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1938 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2000 11:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N93508 |
| NTSB Number | LAX94LA182 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 152 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 152 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15285503 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 10 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 26 |
| Airframe Hours | 2596 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AMERICAN AIRPLANE EXCHANGE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 19711 CAMPUS DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | SANTA ANA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92707 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | GARY SEQUEIRA |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 19711 CAMPUS DRIVE |
| Operator City | SANTA ANA |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 92707 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SNA |
| Departure City | SANTA ANA |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1846 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 3240 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |