Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Arcata Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kneeland, California 95549
Saturday, April 7, 1990 10:35 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
WHILE EN ROUTE FROM SACRAMENTO TO ARCATA, CA, THE PLT CONTACTED ARTCC & FILED AN IFR FLT PLAN. AS HE WAS APCHG THE DESTN AT 10,000', HE REQUESTED A LOWER ALT. HE WAS CLEARED TO DSCND TO 8000'. HE WAS THEN CLEARED FOR AN ILS RWY 32 APCH TO AN UNCTLD ARPT AT ARCATA WITH A RESTRICTION TO REMAIN AT 8000' UNTIL CROSSING THE YAGER INTXN. THE PLT BGN HIS DSCNT EARLY & CROSSED THE YAGER INTXN AT 6700. THE ACFT DSCNDD BELOW RADAR COVERAGE AT 5300'. RADAR SVC WAS TERMINATED & THE PLT WAS INSTRUCTED TO CONTACT THE ARCATA FSS. HE CONTACTED THE FSS STATION & WAS ADZD THE WX WAS PARTIALLY OBSCD, 400' BKN, 1500' BKN, 2400' OVC, 3 MI VIS. THE PLT ACKNOWLEDGE & SAID HE WAS IN THE CLOUDS AT 3200', THEN THERE WAS NO FURTHER CONTACT WITH THE ACFT. A SEARCH WAS INITIATED & THE ACFT WAS FOUND WHERE IT HAD CRASHED ALONG THE ILS COURSE LINE ABOUT 18 MI SHORT OF THE RWY. IMPACT OCCURRED ON HILLY/MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN AT AN ELEV OF ABOUT 2750'. THE MIN DSCNT ALT FOR THAT SEGMENT OF THE APCH WAS 5200'.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER USE OF IFR PROCEDURES BY FAILING TO MAINTAIN THE MINIMUM DESCENT ALTITUDE FOR THE SEGMENT OF THE APPROACH THAT HE WAS FLYING. THE HILLY/MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN WAS A RELATED FACTOR.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/7/1990 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1035 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | KNEELAND |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95549 |
| Event Date Year | 1990 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | ARCATA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ACV |
| 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 | 218 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1052 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 316 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ACV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 218 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 0 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2209 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 7 1990 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1405 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 44637 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 18 2002 11:28AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\GIUV |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3674B |
| NTSB Number | LAX90FA138 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BEECH |
| Aircraft Model | A36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A36 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E-1710 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | |
| Aircraft Owner State | |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | MERLE STONE CHEVROLET, INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2100 EAST TULARE STREET |
| Operator City | TULARE |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 93274 |
| 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 | |
| Departure City | SACRAMENTO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ACV |
| Destination City | ARACATA |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| 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 | 32 |
| Runway Length | 5998 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |