Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Santa Maria Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Maria, California 93455
Wednesday, October 12, 1988 10:07 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
DRG ARRIVAL, THE PLT WAS PROVIDED VECTORS FOR A LOCALIZER/DME BACKCOURSE-ALPHA APCH TO RWY 30. VECTORS WERE PROVIDED TO INTERCEPT THE LOCALIZER BEFORE REACHING THE FINAL APCH FIX (CAMCO), WHICH WAS 6 MI FROM THE RWY. ALSO, THE PLT WAS INSTRUCTED TO MAINTAIN 3500' UNTIL ESTABLISHED ON THE LOCALIZER. AT 1003:52, HE WAS ADZD THAT RADAR SVC WAS TERMINATED &TO CONTACT THE TOWER. AT 1006, HE CONTACTED THE TOWER & ACKNOWLEDGED INSTRUCTIONS TO RPRT AT CAMCO, THEN THERE WAS NO FURTHER COMMUNICATION WITH THE ACFT. SEARCH PROCEDURES WERE INITIATED & THE ACFT WAS SUBSEQUENTLY FOUND WHERE IT HAD CRASHED ABT 1/2 MI SW OF CAMCO AT AN ELEVATION OF APRX 1326'. MIN ALTITUDE FOR THE APCH WAS 3000' UNTIL PASSING CAMCO, THEN THE MIN ALTITUDE WAS 1680' UNTIL REACHING 'PATER' WHICH WAS 2.2 MI FROM THE RWY. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT OR ENG WAS FOUND. THE PILOT HAD LOGGED 5.4 ACTUAL INSTRUMENT HOURS AND 6 INSTRUMENT APPROACHES IN THE PRECEDING 6 MOS. HIS LOG DID NOT RECORD ANY EXPERIENCE WITH BACKCOURSE APPROACHES.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE PILOT FAILED TO FOLLOW THE CORRECT I.F.R. PROCEDURES WHEREAS HE DESCENDED BELOW THE FINAL APPROACH FIX ALTITUDE.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/12/1988 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1007 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SANTA MARIA |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93455 |
| Event Date Year | 1988 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | SANTA MARIA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SMX |
| 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 | 259 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1020 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SMX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 259 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 900 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2276 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 12 1988 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1130 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 40088 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 12:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6198H |
| NTSB Number | LAX89FA013 |
| 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 | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-32-300 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-780036 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 25 1989 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 75 |
| Airframe Hours | 1800 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | LON V. WHITE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2442 CLEARCREST LANE |
| Aircraft Owner City | FALLBROOK |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92028 |
| 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 | L18 |
| Departure City | FALLBROOK |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 833 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | SMX |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| 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 | 30 |
| Runway Length | 6300 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |