Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Van Nuys Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Granada Hills, California 91344
Monday, July 22, 1991 17:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
DURING A VISUAL APPROACH TO THE AIRPORT, THE TOWER CONTROLLER NOTICED THAT THE AIRPLANE WAS HIGH, AND INSTRUCTED THE PILOT TO GO AROUND AND ENTER A RIGHT DOWNWIND. REPEATED INSTRUCTIONS TO TURN TO DOWNWIND BROUGHT NO RESPONSE UNTIL A TURN WAS FINALLY INITIATED. AT THAT TIME THE PILOT DECLARED AN EMERGENCY, REPORTING THAT HE WAS HOLDING FULL BACK ELEVATOR, TRYING TO KEEP THE AIRPLANE IN THE AIR, AND THAT IT LOOKED LIKE HIS ELEVATORS WERE STUCK. THE AIRPLANE CONTINUED AWAY FROM THE AIRPORT AND ENTERED A NEAR VERTICAL HIGH SPEED DESCENT INTO A STORAGE BUILDING. INVESTIGATION REVEALED BOTH ELEVATOR TRIM ACTUATORS AT A 4 DEG NOSE DOWN TRIM POSITION, AND EVIDENCE INDICATES A 40 DEG DOWN ELEVATOR POSITION. NO MALFUNCTION OF THE ENGINES OR FLIGHT CONTROLS WERE FOUND. THE AUTOPILOT SYSTEM CONTROL MODULE WAS DESTROYED. THE PILOT HAD RECEIVED 7 HOURS OF TRAINING IN THE AIRPLANE, AND HAD 20 HOURS TOTAL TIME IN THE AIRPLANE.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A LOSS OF DIRECTIONAL CONTROL FOLLOWING AN UNDETERMINED AUTOPILOT FAILURE, DURING WHICH THE PILOT FAILED TO PERFORM THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO CORRECT A MIS-TRIM CONDITION. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS A PERCEIVED ELEVATOR CONTROL PROBLEM; THE INABILITY OF THE PILOT TO OVERPOWER THE MIS-TRIM CONDITION; AND A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING AND TRAINING IN AUTOPILOT SYSTEMS AND FAILURES.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/22/1991 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1700 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | GRANADA HILLS |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91344 |
| Event Date Year | 1991 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | VAN NUYS |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VNY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 4 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 333 |
| Airport Elevation | 799 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1705 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 153 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VNY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 799 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1952 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | 0 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 46029 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2000 10:32AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N77CQ |
| NTSB Number | LAX91FA324 |
| 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 | BEECH |
| Aircraft Model | 95-C55 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 95-C55 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | TE-299 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5300 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 20 1991 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 16 |
| Airframe Hours | 3698 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BARGMAN, STUART |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1846 ROCKWOOD DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | SACRAMENTO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95824 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | BARGMAN, STUART |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1846 ROCKWOOD DRIVE |
| Operator City | SACRAMENTO |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 95824 |
| 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 | SJC |
| Departure City | SAN JOSE |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1521 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16R |
| Runway Length | 8001 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |