Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lone Pine, California 93545
Saturday, March 21, 1998 12:00 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot intended to fly his homebuilt airplane, with its 65 horsepower engine, in a westward direction over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After departure from the 3,680-foot mean sea level (msl) Lone Pine Airport, the pilot circled the area to gain altitude. Eventually the pilot located a mountain pass and proceeded in a westerly direction toward his home in Tracy, California. The elevation of the underlying terrain began increasing faster than the airplane was climbing, so the pilot made a forced landing on the snow-covered mountainside. The accident site elevation is about 10,500 feet msl and is about 8 miles southeast of Mt. Whitney. In the pilot's completed report, he indicated that no mechanical malfunctions or failures were experienced during the accident flight in his experimental airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper in-flight planning, misjudged terrain clearance, and failure to attain adequate altitude before attempting to traverse the mountain pass. Contributing factors were the high density altitude and the rising, mountainous terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/21/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1200 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | LONE PINE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93545 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -1 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 11050 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1139 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 22 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 710 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 10:56AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N166VP |
| NTSB Number | LAX98LA126 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Victor Marsh |
| Aircraft Model | MARSH 1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MARSH 1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 166 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 850 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 9 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 40 |
| Airframe Hours | 84 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | VICTOR W. MARSH |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1025 TOM FOWLER DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | TRACY |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95376 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | O26 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1100 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | TCY |
| Destination City | TRACY |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |