Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mariposa Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
La Grange, California 95329
Saturday, September 16, 1989 14:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
BEFORE DEPG ON THE ACDNT FLT, THE PLT OBTAINED A WX BRIEFING & WAS ADVISED OF RAIN SHOWERS ALONG HIS ENTIRE ROUTE. ALSO, HE WAS WARNED OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THROUGHOUT ALL OF CALIFORNIA. HE FILED A VFR FLT PLAN & TOOK OFF. SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, HE ACTIVATED THE FLT PLAN, THEN THERE WAS NO FURTHER COMMUNICATION WITH THE ACFT. ABOUT 1 HR LATER, THE ACFT WAS OBSERVED FLYING AT LOW ALTITUDE. AS THE ACFT APCHD A SIGN, IT WAS OBSERVED TO ENTER A CLIMB & DISAPPEAR IN A LOW CLOUD LAYER. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, IT WAS OBSERVED BY ANOTHER WITNESS IN A DIVE AS IT DESCENDED BELOW THE CLOUDS. MOMENTS LATER, THE ACFT CRASHED IN A LAKE. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THE ACFT HAD IMPACTED THE WATER WITH VERY HIGH VELOCITY. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE/MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT WAS FOUND. THE NON-INSTRUMENT RATED PILOT HAD ONLY ABOUT 3 HRS OF INSTRUMENT FLT TIME. WITNESSES RPRTD THUNDERSTORMS & LIGHTNING IN THE AREA; THEY ESTIMATED THERE WAS ABOUT A 500 FT OBSCURATION WITH 1/2 MI VISIBILITY, BLOWING RAIN & WIND FROM 135 DEG AT 15 GUSTING 20 KTS.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
CONTINUED VFR FLIGHT INTO INSTRUMENT METEORLOGICAL CONDITIONS (IMC) BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN SPATIAL DISORIENTATION AND LOSS OF AIRCRAFT CONTROL. RELATED FACTORS WERE: FLIGHT INTO KNOWN ADVERSE WEATHER BY THE PILOT, THE ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS, AND THE PILOT'S LACK OF INSTRUMENT FLIGHT CAPABILITIES.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/16/1989 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1440 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LA GRANGE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95329 |
| Event Date Year | 1989 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | MARIPOSA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 068 |
| 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 | 2250 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Partial - limited by briefer |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Obscured |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 135 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Heavy |
| 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) | 1460 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 16 1989 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1530 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 39806 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 1:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1232J |
| NTSB Number | LAX89FA304 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ROCKWELL |
| Aircraft Model | 112B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 112B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 502 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 6 1987 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FRANK SPEVAK |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5632 PINE CONE ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | LA CRESANTA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LTA |
| Departure City | S LAKE TAHOE |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1329 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | BUR |
| Destination City | BURBANK |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |