Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Brown Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Diego, California 92173
Monday, December 11, 2000 19:30 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot filed a visual flight plan to practice night landings. He contacted the tower about 1930, when approximately 5 miles west of the airport, and reported inbound for touch-and-go landings. The pilot was instructed to enter a right downwind for runway 26R, and to change to the correct frequency. The pilot said he did not have the current Automated Terminal Information Service (ATIS) for weather information, and was given the current weather after he changed frequencies. The controller noticed the airplane just west of "Poggi" VOR (2.3 nautical miles north of the runways), and it appeared to be headed northbound away from the airport. The controller asked the pilot if he had the airport in sight and he responded he did not, but that he was practicing some maneuvers and was a little busy in the cockpit. A couple of minutes later the airplane was observed to be about 7 miles north. The controller advised the pilot to report the prison if he was still inbound for a right base entry for runway 26R. The next readable transmission from the airplane was "encountering some soup." According to the operator, upon entering clouds, the pilot started a 75 mph climb, followed by a right turn just before impact. The pilot did not respond to additional calls from the controller and was no longer observed on the D-Brite radar system. The airplane had collided with a 2,791-foot mountain about 7 miles north of the intended airport. According to VFR charts, the maximum elevation figure for the accident quadrangle/sector is 4,100 feet mean sea level.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate preflight planning and weather evaluation that resulted in the inadvertant entry into instrument meteorological conditions while conducting visual flight. A factor was fog and the night visual conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/11/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1930 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | SAN DIEGO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92173 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Brown Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SDM |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 7 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 180 |
| Airport Elevation | 542 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1900 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SDM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 524 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11584 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 11 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2018 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 14 2002 9:31AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4959R |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA052 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172H |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172H |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 172-56280 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | Nov 14 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50 |
| Airframe Hours | 11148 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NORTH ISLAND NAVY FLYING CLUB |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 357012 |
| Aircraft Owner City | SAN DIEGO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92135 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NZY |
| Departure City | North Island |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1920 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SDM |
| Destination City | Brown Field |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 11 2002 1:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |