Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Morgan Hill, California 95037
Wednesday, February 11, 1998 15:25 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A flight of two military helicopters was on a northerly heading while N8343D was on a converging northwesterly heading at the same altitude. There were no indications that the occupants of either aircraft saw each other prior to colliding in midair. The crew of the second helicopter saw the airplane approaching, but did not have time to radio a warning. After the collision, the airplane entered an uncontrolled descent. The helicopter pilot made a precautionary, run-on landing, and made an emergency shutdown. The 5 feet 2 inch airplane pilot used a pillow, placed on the seat bottom to increase his seated height. The seat did not have a vertical adjustment. The sun was in the southwest quadrant, with scattered clouds and 20 miles visibility. The top and bottom rotating beacons, as well as landing lights of both helicopters were illuminated. The helicopter pilot was flight following, but had not received any conflicting traffic advisories. The airplane pilot was not communicating with ATC. The transponder in the airplane was squawking 1200 but the altitude was reported as erratic and unreliable. The unreliable altitude returns from the airplane disabled the automatic intruder program. The controller did not see the airplane as a primary target because he was busy handling other traffic.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain visual separation from the flight of military helicopters approaching from his left. The pilot's failure to request VFR traffic advisories, to maintain an adequate visual lookout, an erratic transponder, and glare from the sun were factors.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/11/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1525 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | MORGAN HILL |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95037 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | Yes |
| 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 | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1445 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 301 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RHV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 133 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1724 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 11 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 10:47AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8343D | ARNG |
| NTSB Number | LAX98FA086A | LAX98FA086B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation | Armed Forces |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | J35 | CH-47D |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | J35 | CH-47D |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-5431 | 91-0234 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 | 50000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil | Military |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 | 35 |
| Number of Engines | 1 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 19 1997 12:00AM | Feb 6 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 63 | 13 |
| Airframe Hours | 5639 | 4404 |
| ELT Installed | Yes | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MYRON BURCH BALDWIN | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 814 ASHEN COURT | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | SUNNYVALE | STOCKTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94086 | 95206 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- | No |
| Operator Name | -- | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- | |
| Operator City | -- | |
| Operator State | -- | |
| Operator Country | -- | |
| Operator Zip code | -- | |
| Operator Code | -- | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None | 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No | No |
| Departure Airport Code | RHV | MRY |
| Departure City | SAN JOSE | MONTEREY |
| Departure State | CA | CA |
| Departure Country | ||
| Departure Time | 1510 | 1505 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SCK | |
| Destination City | STOCKTON | |
| Destination State | CA | |
| Destination Country | ||
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No | No |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |