Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Nixon, Nevada 89424
Monday, October 2, 1989 5:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
AT ABOUT 0430 PDT, THE NON-INSTRUMENT RATED PLT DEPD CAMERON PARK, CA, ON A FLT TO ELKO, NV, WHERE HE WAS TO RPRT TO WORK BETWEEN 0700 & 0730. WHILE EN ROUTE, THE ACFT CRASHED ON NEARLY LEVEL TERRAIN, NEAR THE BASE OF A MTN, AT AN ELEVATION OF ABOUT 4800'. IMPACT OCCURRED AT DAWN. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THE ACFT CRASHED AT HIGH SPEED, WHILE IN A LEFT WING LOW, NOSE LOW ATTITUDE. A WX STUDY SHOWED CLOUDS EXISTED IN THE AREA FROM 6000' TO 15,000' MSL WITH WX CELLS MOVING FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST. APRX 35 MI WEST-SOUTHWEST AT RENO (ELEV 4412'), THE WX WAS (IN PART) 1000' SCATTERED, 3200' OVERCAST, VISIBILITY 8 MI, WIND FROM 290 DEG AT 6 KTS. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT OR ENG WAS FOUND. RADAR DATA SHOWED THAT JUST BEFORE IMPACT, THE ACFT'S ALTITUDE VARIED FROM 12,500' TO 8,300' MSL, WITH A DESCENT RATE OF UP TO 2900'/MIN. NO RECORD OF A WX BRIEFING WAS FOUND.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
CONTINUED FLIGHT BY THE NON-INSTRUMENT RATED PILOT INTO INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS (IMC), AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT, DUE TO SPATIAL DISORIENTATION. INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREFLIGHT PLANNING/PREPARATION BY THE PILOT, AND THE WEATHER AND LIGHT CONDITIONS AT EARLY DAWN WERE FACTORS.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/2/1989 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 530 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | NIXON |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89424 |
| Event Date Year | 1989 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| 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 | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 515 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 240 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RNO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4412 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 35 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dawn |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| 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) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| 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) | 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1454 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 4 1989 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 39801 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 1:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2155G |
| NTSB Number | DEN90FA002 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 182A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 182A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 51455 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2650 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 14 1989 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 | ABLES, STEVEN D. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3196 AERONOCA WAY |
| Aircraft Owner City | CAMERON PARK |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95682 |
| 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 | 061 |
| Departure City | CAMERON PARK |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 430 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | EKO |
| Destination City | ELKO |
| Destination State | NV |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Width | 0 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |