Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Taft Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Taft, California 93268
Monday, March 27, 2000 15:07 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Without notifying air traffic control during a flight conducted under instrument flight rules, the pilot descended from 11,000 feet until impacting 900-foot msl terrain in a nose low attitude and with a relatively high rate of speed. At the time, visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and the sky was clear. Earlier, the pilot had departed California's central valley on a business flight with an intended southern California destination. En route communications were normal and the pilot was responsive to the radar controller's instructions to climb from 10,000 to 11,000 feet. About 1.5 minutes after receiving an updated altimeter setting, the airplane began descending. The pilot did not report vacating 11,000 feet, nor did he communicate the existence of any emergency. Minutes later, the airplane, which had just passed abeam the Tracy airport (closest airport to the airplane's location) reversed direction and turned toward Tracy. During the last 2 minutes of recorded flight, the airplane's descent rate averaged 1,550 feet per minute. Ground scar signatures were indicative of the airplane impacting terrain in a wings level attitude, and thereafter sustaining structural fragmentation. The impact occurred on level terrain about 1.3 miles short of the airport. The engine and propeller were found in a 3-foot-deep impact crater. Components were found as far as 317 feet from the crater. There was no evidence of fire. The pilot maintained his airplane on an annual inspection basis, and he had flown it since manufacture in 1998 for a total of 220 hours. He had made 64 flights in the airplane during the preceding 12 months. The pilot was reportedly in good health. The radar track plot provided evidence that the pilot successfully negotiated a course reversal turn and was initially able to head toward the nearest airport. The pilot was, however, unable to arrest the 1,550 foot-per-minute rate of descent. No evidence was found in the fragmented wreckage regarding the reason for the steep descent to ground impact.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The in-flight collision with the ground for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/27/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1507 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | TAFT |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93268 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | TAFT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | L17 |
| 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 | 144 |
| Airport Elevation | 875 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1456 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BFL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 507 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 26 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 70 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 52 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| 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 | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10921 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 27 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1533 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 6 2001 9:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N986DB |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA141 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Birx |
| Aircraft Model | VANS RV-6 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | VANS RV-6 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 60150 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 | Jun 6 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 88 |
| Airframe Hours | 220 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DANIEL L. BIRX |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | OAKLEY |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94561 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TCY |
| Departure City | TRACY |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1347 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | VNY |
| Destination City | VAN NUYS |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 19 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | 3550 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |