Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bass Lake, California 93604
Friday, June 18, 1999 9:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with 100-foot-tall trees as it headed up a canyon. The pilot flew about 1,000 feet over Bass Lake (elevation 3,500 feet) and then headed towards the local mountains. A campground host at the Chilkoot Campgrounds (elevation 4,700 feet) was sitting next to his trailer several miles north of Bass Lake. This trailer was oriented 350 degrees and the airplane flew by parallel to his trailer. The trees in this area were over 100 feet tall, and the airplane was approximately 100 feet over the trees and 100 feet west of the trailer. The host heard the airplane for 3 or 4 seconds before it arrived at his position, and the engine was running smoothly. Then he heard the sound increase as it passed by and thought power was being added. He lost sight of the airplane due to the trees and several seconds later heard two separate sounds of what he described as metal crunching. The density altitude was approximately 6,500 feet. From Chilcoot Campground, the terrain to the east rose about 1,000 feet within 1/2 mile; to the west about 500 feet within 1 nm; and to the north about 800 feet within 1 nm. The pilot accumulated a total time of 345 hours with 1.5 hours in this make and model, including a 1-hour checkout by an instructor pilot 2 months prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Inadequate in-flight planning and decision making resulted in a failure to maintain clearance from terrain. A factor in the accident was the pilot's low total time and lack of experience in this make and model of airplane.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/18/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 945 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | BASS LAKE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93604 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 856 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 175 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FAT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 333 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 42 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 81 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 54 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 6500 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11268 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 18 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1230 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2002 7:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2706R |
| NTSB Number | LAX99FA214 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28R-200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28R-200 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28R-35256 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2600 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 19 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 23 |
| Airframe Hours | 5523 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ALAN MEMLEY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | LOS ANGELES |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90003 |
| 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 | |
| Operator City | FRESNO |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 93706 |
| 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 | FCH |
| Departure City | FRESNO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 855 |
| 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 | Dec 1 2001 4:45AM |
| 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 | -- |