Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Tonopah Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tonopah, Nevada 89045
Tuesady, October 5, 1999 19:52 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airport operator reported that it was a very dark night and the airplane requested advisories on the Unicom frequency. The runway lights illuminated and the operator awaited the airplane's arrival. When the airplane did not appear and the runway lights shutoff automatically, the operator began looking for the airplane. He saw a rotating red light in the area where the base leg should have been flown, drove to the site, and discovered the airplane. The airport operator said that the area surrounding the airport is very sparsely populated and the only lighted visual queues during night approaches are the runway lights. The pilot said he lost sight of the threshold lights and unknowingly lost excessive altitude while on downwind. During the base turn, the left main wheel touched the ground and rolled a short distance before the gear collapsed and the airplane slid to a stop.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to monitor his altitude and maintain an adequate terrain clearance during the approach. The dark night lighting conditions and the visual illusion created by the lack of ground reference lights were factors in the accident.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/5/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1952 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | TONOPAH |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89045 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | TONOPAH |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TPH |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5426 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2050 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TPH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5426 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| 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) | 25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 15 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 80 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| 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 | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1833 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 5 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2140 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 13 2003 1:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\ZUZL |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9609X |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA005 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 210B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 210B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21057909 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 13 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 47 |
| Airframe Hours | 4243 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MOJONNIER ENTERPRISES INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 10538 S ROYAL PORTHCAWL |
| Aircraft Owner City | NAPERVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 60566 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | GEORGE W. MOJONNIER |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 11246 AIRPARK LN S. E. |
| Operator City | YELM |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 98597 |
| 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 | LMT |
| Departure City | KLAMATH FALLS |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1737 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | TPH |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 27 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 15 |
| Runway Length | 7057 |
| Runway Width | 80 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |