Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Paradise Skypark Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Paradise, California 95969
Sunday, December 3, 2000 15:26 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After discharging three parachutists into a drop zone from about 12,000 feet mean sea level, the pilot attempted to return to the departure airport. The engine began surging as the airplane descended through 8,000 feet. The pilot continued the descent and entered the departure airport's traffic pattern. He misjudged his distance from the runway, and when all engine power was lost turning onto the final approach leg he was unable to glide to the runway. The airplane impacted terrain about 250 feet short of the landing threshold whereupon it nosed over. Regarding the pilot's qualifications, he was 5 months overdue in his performance of a biennial flight review, and he had not flown during the previous 90 days. The pilot had alleged to the firm which used his piloting services that he possessed a commercial pilot certificate and had at least 4,000 hours of flight time. On a May 2000 application for an FAA medical certificate, the pilot indicated that he held a commercial pilot certificate and had 8,100 hours of total flight time. According to the FAA, no record exists of the pilot holding any certificate in the United States other than that of private pilot. The pilot subsequently reported to the Safety Board that he had about 1,905 hours of flight time. A reconstruction of the fuel load carried during the accident flight in concert with the fuel burn off rates revealed that, at the time of the crash, the approximate quantity of fuel on board was 4.4 gallons. According to the Cessna Aircraft Company, the unusable fuel for each tank is 2.5 gallons, or a total of 5 gallons.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion during a descent due to an inadequate fuel supply. Contributing factors were the pilot's improper preflight planning, his misjudged altitude while performing the emergency landing, and his lack of certificate qualification and recent flight experience/currency.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/3/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1526 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | PARADISE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95969 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Paradise Skypark |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | Q88 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 170 |
| Airport Elevation | 1300 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1548 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CIC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 238 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11326 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 3 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1602 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 23 2002 7:13AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO SACRAMENTO, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N182DD |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA050 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 182J |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18257506 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2800 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 20 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 5973 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James F. Schlernitzauer |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4405 A. Airport Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | PARADISE |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95969 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SKYDIVE IN PARADISE |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | Q88 |
| Departure City | PARADISE |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | Q88 |
| Destination City | PARADISE |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 26 2001 5:50PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 35 |
| Runway Length | 2700 |
| Runway Width | 40 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |