Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Monica, California 90290
Wednesday, March 28, 2001 18:58 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane impacted the water descending at a high rate of speed. On a dark moonless night, the noninstrument rated private pilot rented an airplane and flew below a marine layer of clouds along the coastal shoreline. The pilot initiated a course reversal turn, during which the airplane turned away from the city lights. During the turn, seconds after the airplane was headed nearly perpendicular to the shoreline, the pilot commenced a descending right turn with a vertical descent rate of over 2,100 feet per minute. A witness about 1 mile away reported that the airplane looked as though it was falling straight down into the water. The pilot had taken his primary flight lessons from a Texas-based school, and he was, by his own admission, not familiar with flying around marine cloud layers. No evidence of mechanical malfunction or failures was noted during the wreckage examination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's loss of airplane control while maneuvering due to spatial disorientation. Contributing factors were the dark night, the marine cloud layer that restricted the pilot's cruising altitude, and the pilot's lack of familiarity with nighttime flight over the ocean.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/28/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1858 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Santa Monica |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90290 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340118N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1183455W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1851 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 80 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SMO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 175 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 15 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15182 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 29 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 913 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2004 8:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO Los Angeles, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2838E |
| NTSB Number | LAX01FA129 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| 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 | 172N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17271340 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 8 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 64 |
| Airframe Hours | 8751 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Bill Bryan, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Los Angeles |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90066 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Justice Aviation, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2701 Airport Avenue |
| Operator City | Santa Monica |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 90405 |
| Operator Code | J4AV |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SMO |
| Departure City | Santa Monica |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1851 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SMO |
| Destination City | Santa Monica |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 17 2003 3:02PM |
| 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 | -- |