Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
General William J. Fox Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lancaster, California 93536
Tuesady, December 12, 2000 10:02 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial pilot lost control of the single engine airplane during a rapid descent to the arrival airport, and impacted the ground in a near vertical attitude at very high speed. The pilot reported he was 7 or 8 miles from the airport at 8,500 feet msl, and was inbound for landing. The controller asked the pilot if he would be able to descend from his position. The pilot answered, "Yeah, if I could do right traffic, I'll go into a imitation of a rock, see what I can do." The controller told the pilot to enter a left downwind leg at a midfield position, and issued the wind conditions, which were reported as 270 degrees at 25 knots. Several witnesses, within a mile of the accident site, reported seeing the airplane as being in a steep, nose down attitude at a rapidly increasing rate of descent. The airplane maintained a perpendicular, nose down attitude until they lost sight of the airplane behind low scrub brush. About the same time they lost sight, they reported seeing a dust cloud rise in the same vicinity. The dust cloud quickly dissipated in the gusting surface winds. The airplane's mode C radar data depicted the airplane descending at a rate of 5,500 feet per minute between the last two radar returns, which were spaced 12 seconds apart. The airplane's last radar return was depicted as 4,900 feet msl (2,545 feet above the ground). Co-workers described the following procedure used by the mishap pilot to lose altitude quickly: reduce power and slow airplane to 120 knots; position propeller control full forward; allow the engine temperatures to normalize; and trim airplane nose down to achieve an indicated airspeed near Vne (redline - Never Exceed Speed; 176 knots). It was reported the pilot learned this from other pilots who took parachutists to altitude. No pre-accident anomalies were noted with the airframe and engine during the examination. The main wings and all fixed and movable primary and secondary control surfaces were accounted for at the impact site. No evidence was found to support a physiological incapacitation. Investigators considered the possibility of some combination of airplane attitude and speed aerodynamically blanking the empennage surfaces; however, no evidence to support such a conclusion was found.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's in-flight loss of control for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/12/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1002 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Lancaster |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93536 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 344336N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1181409W |
| Event Location Airport | General William J. Fox Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | WJF |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.65 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 250 |
| Airport Elevation | 2355 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1015 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 70 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | WJF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2550 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 22 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 29 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.03 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| 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) | 14449 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 12 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N182ER |
| NTSB Number | LAX01GA057 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 182P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 182P |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18263637 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2950 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 6 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 72.9 |
| Airframe Hours | 5773.5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | California Department of Justice |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4949 Broadway, B-238 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Sacramento |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95820 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | FAT |
| Departure City | Fresno |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 852 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | WJF |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 23 2003 3:00PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |