Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Brown Field Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Diego, California 92101
Tuesady, March 20, 2001 18:24 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While on approach to land, about a mile away from the airport, the airplane collided with rugged terrain. The purpose of the flight was to conduct touch-and-go takeoffs and landings. No anomalies were noted with the first portion of the flight. After departure from a local area airport, the student pilot obtained weather information for another local area airport, as well as the accident airport. The other airport, about 20 miles northwest of the accident airport, reported weather conditions as IMC. The accident airport was reporting 7 miles visibility, with no mention of any weather; however, he could see the rotating beacon operating. He requested clearance to land, and was informed that the airport had just gone to IFR operations due to a fog bank that had moved in. The local controller asked his intentions and if he wanted special VFR to land. The pilot indicated that he did. The airplane entered the fog bank. Prior to impact the pilot saw the ground and pulled the yoke full aft. Reported weather conditions prior to the accident were 5 miles visibility with haze and clear skies. A special weather update issued at the time of the accident was reporting 2 miles visibility, mist, and few clouds at 100 feet agl. Weather issued right after the accident reported visibility at 1 1/4 miles, with mist and a broken ceiling of 100 feet agl. Review of the student's logbook revealed that he was endorsed for VFR weather conditions: visibility greater than 5 sm, ceilings greater than 5,000 fee,t and winds less than 15 knots. Official sunset occurred at 1801.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's poor inflight planning/judgement to continue a flight into IFR conditions and not divert to an airport operating under VFR conditions. Factors were the pilot's misunderstanding of his flight limitations, special VFR, and not obtaining a weather briefing from FSS prior to the flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/20/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1824 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Diego |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92101 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 323420N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1165848W |
| Event Location Airport | BROWN FIELD MUNI |
| 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 | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 260 |
| Airport Elevation | 526 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1824 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 80 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SDM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 526 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 1 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11069 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 20 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 28 2001 7:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAN-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N733JG |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA124 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 150G |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 150-65690 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 28 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 47 |
| Airframe Hours | 13000 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Bill Sones |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Diego |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92154 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SEE |
| Departure City | El Cajon |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1810 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SDM |
| Destination City | San Diego |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 2 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26R |
| Runway Length | 7999 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |