Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Buttonwillow, California 93206
Wednesday, October 28, 1987 18:41 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A PIPER PA-24-250 COLLIDED WITH TERRAIN WHILE ON AN IFR FLIGHT. THE PILOT RECEIVED A WX BRIEFING FROM FSS. WHILE EN ROUTE, RADIO AND RADAR CONTACT WAS LOST, THEN REGAINED. THE PILOT STATED TO ATC THAT THE ACFT HAD BEEN STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. HE ELECTED TO CONTINUE HIS FLT TO HIS DEST. THE ACFT AGAIN WAS LOST FROM RADAR WHILE PLT WAS EXECUTING FREQUENCY CHANGE. WITNESSES REPORTED ACFT DESCENDING IN VERTICAL SPIRAL AND THEN IMPACTING GND VERTICALLY. WX RPRTS AND FORECASTS INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS, TURBULENCE, AND LIGHTNING WERE PRESENT ALONG FLIGHT. TWO PLT RPRTS INDICATED PRESENCE OF MODERATE TO SEVERE TURBULANCE IN VICINITY OF THE ACCIDENT SITE, WITHIN 1,000 FT OF ACFT CRUISE ALT. REVIEW OF PILOT'S LOGBOOK INDICATED HE WAS NOT IFR-CURRENT. EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE DID NOT DISCLOSE THE DAMAGE BY THE LIGHTNING STRIKE.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/28/1987 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1841 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | BUTTONWILLOW |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93206 |
| Event Date Year | 1987 |
| 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 | NONE |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1750 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 78 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BFL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 490 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 35 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| 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 | Light |
| 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) | 2645 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 28 1987 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2145 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 38461 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 2:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5431P |
| NTSB Number | LAX88FA028 |
| 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-24-250 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-24-250 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-485 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 |
| 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 | May 28 1986 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 68 |
| Airframe Hours | 2849 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MARRACCI, LOUIS T. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 517 |
| Aircraft Owner City | TWISP |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98856 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | MARRACCI, LOUIS T |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2113 VIA ALAMITOS |
| Operator City | PALOS VERDES |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 90274 |
| 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 | SNA |
| Departure City | SANTA ANA |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1732 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CCR |
| Destination City | CONCORD |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| 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 | -- |