Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Pedro, California 90731
Friday, September 6, 1991 18:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE PILOT/MECHANIC COMPLETED AN ANNUAL INSPECTION ON THE AIRCRAFT AND INTENDED TO PERFORM A SHORT TEST FLIGHT OUT OVER THE CHANNEL BETWEEN THE MAINLAND AND AN ISLAND. THE ATCT CLEARED THE AIRCRAFT FOR TAKEOFF AT 1757 HOURS WITH A RIGHT DOWNWIND DEPARTURE. THERE WERE NO DOCUMENTED RADIO CONTACTS WITH THE AIRCRAFT AFTER THE PILOT LEFT THE LOCAL CONTROL FREQUENCY. RECORDED RADAR DATA SHOWED THE AIRCRAFT DEPARTING THE TORRANCE AIRPORT TRAFFIC AREA AND PROCEEDING SOUTH BOUND OVER THE CHANNEL FOR A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 10 MILES. THE TARGET THEN REVERSED COURSE AND WAS HEADED FOR THE MAINLAND AGAIN WHEN THE TARGET TRACK APPEARED TO MAKE AN ABRUPT LEFT TURN AND DISAPPEAR AT A POINT ABOUT SIX MILES SOUTH OF SAN PEDRO. SEVERAL WITNESSES WERE IN BOATS IN THE CHANNEL AT ABOUT THE TIME THE TARGET DISAPPEARED, AND IN THE GENERAL AREA OF THE LAST RECORDED RADAR POSITION. SEVERAL OF THE WITNESSES REPORTED HEARING SOUNDS OF AN ENGINE SPUTTERING THEN THE SOUNDS OF A LARGE SPLASH. ONE WITNESS REPORTED OBSERVING A LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT AT ABOUT 1830 HOURS JUST PRIOR TO HEARING THE LARGE SPLASH SOUNDS. THE WITNESS COULD NOT, HOWEVER, IDENTIFY THE AIRCRAFT MAKE, MODEL OR EVEN SPECIFIC CLASS (SINGLE OR MULTI ENGINE) THAT HE OBSERVED.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
AN INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/6/1991 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1815 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SAN PEDRO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90731 |
| Event Date Year | 1991 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| 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 | 1500 |
| 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) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 2243 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | 0 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 45499 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2000 10:44AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5442A |
| NTSB Number | LAX91LA385 |
| 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 | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | C-310B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | C-310B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 35642 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4700 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 6 1991 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 3999 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PETER T. BELL |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 20600 MAIN STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | CARSON |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90745 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | PETER T. BELL |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 20600 MAIN STREET |
| Operator City | CARSON |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 90745 |
| 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) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TOA |
| Departure City | TORRANCE |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1757 |
| 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 10:35AM |
| 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 | -- |