Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Bellingham Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bellingham, Washington 98225
Wednesday, November 4, 1987 22:40 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE ACFT WAS CHARTERED TO TAKE UNIVERSITY (WWU) PSNL TO AN ALUMNI DINNER. WHILE RTRNG AT NGT, THE PLT MADE A LOCALIZER ONLY, ILS RWY 16 APCH IN MARGINAL VFR CONDS. DRG THE APCH, RADAR SVC WAS TERMINATED & THE PLT WAS TOLD TO CTC BELLINGHAMRADIO, BUT HE DID NOT LND OR CTC THE FACILITY. RADAR DATA SHOWED HE CONTD SOUTHBOUND TWD WWU & CHGD THE TRANSPONDER CODETO 1200 (VFR). RADAR CTC WAS LOST FOR APRX 1-1/2 MIN AS THE ACFT PASSED OVR THE VCNTY OF WWU & 1 OF THE PAX'S HOME, THENRADAR CTC WAS REESTABLISHED. WITNESSES IN THE AREA RPRTD SEEING A LOW FLYING ACFT AT APRX THAT TIME. THE ACFT THEN FLEW TO THE VCNTY OF SVRL LARGE REFINERIES APRX 9 MI NNW OF THE ARPT & RADAR CTC WAS LOST AGAIN. WHEN THE ACFT DID NOT LAND AT THE ARPT, A SEARCH WAS STARTED. IT WAS FND WHERE IT HAD HIT 200' TREES & CRASHED. NO ONE SAW THE ACDNT, BUT 2 PERSONSSAW AN ACFT FLYING AT LOW ALT IN THAT VCNTY WITH THE LNDG LGT ON. THEY ALSO RPRTD PTCHY FOG IN THE AREA. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT TURNED TO AN EASTERLY HDG BFR IT CRASHED. NO PREIMPACT MECH PRBLM WAS FND THAT WOULD HAVE CAUSE THE ACDNT.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/4/1987 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2240 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | BELLINGHAM |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98225 |
| Event Date Year | 1987 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | BELLINGHAM INTL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BLI |
| 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 | 87 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2155 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 108 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BLI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 87 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Bright |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| 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) | 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1433 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 5 1987 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 34805 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 3:00PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4178Q |
| NTSB Number | SEA88MA015 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 310N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 310N |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0078 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5200 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 15 1987 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 53 |
| Airframe Hours | 3012 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FLYING SCHOOL OF THE CASCADES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2050 AIRPORT WAY |
| Aircraft Owner City | BELLINGHAM |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98226 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | CASCADE FLIGHT SCHOOL |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2052 AIRPORT WAY |
| Operator City | BELLINGHAM |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 98225 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TIW |
| Departure City | TACOMA |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2145 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | BELLINGHAM |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| 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 | 16 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |