Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Suisun City, California 94585
Thursday, December 5, 1996 15:12 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
At the time of the accident the aircraft had accumulated about 32 total hours. The delivery pilot and the owner pilot departed for a local familiarization flight. The aircraft failed to return and the wreckage was located the next day about 12 miles northeast of the departure airport. The aircraft collided with rolling farmland in a wings level attitude with the gear and flaps retracted. There was adequate fuel onboard for the local flight. There was engine power being generated at the time of the ground collision. Disassembly of the engine and a functional testing of system components found no failures or discrepancies. The featherable propeller was in the normal governing pitch range under engine power at the time of ground collision.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
In-flight loss of control for an undetermined reason.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/5/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1512 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | SUISUN CITY |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94585 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1445 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 226 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CCR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 23 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2400 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1808 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 6 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N444LP |
| NTSB Number | LAX97FA065 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Opperman |
| Aircraft Model | LANCAIR IV-P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | LANCAIR IV |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 199 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 12 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 32 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BRADFORD PROPERTIES INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1646 N CALIFORNIA BL STE 346 |
| Aircraft Owner City | WALNUT CREEK |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94596 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1646 N CALIFORNIA BL STE 346 |
| Operator City | WALNUT CREEK |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 94596 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CCR |
| Departure City | CONCORD |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1504 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |