Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Alturas, Ca. Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Alturas, California 96101
Sunday, August 12, 2001 19:05 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The operator stated that their mission was to drop smoke jumpers on the Dusenbury fire incident in the South Warner Wilderness area of the Modoc National Forest. The air was smooth as the airplane descended over the fire. The 9 smoke jumpers were let out over the fire at 8,500 feet mean sea level (msl) in five passes, followed by four more passes to drop cargo. When the jump operations were completed, 360-degree circuits were made to gain altitude for the flight back to Redding. The "fasten seatbelt" sign was turned off for jump operations and cabin securing. There were two cabin crewmembers (spotters) on board who were securing the cabin for their return flight to Redding. As the airplane crossed over a ridge line at 9,000 feet msl (800 feet above ground level), it encountered a sudden wind shear, or downdraft, but then immediately back into smooth air. One spotter hit his helmet on the ceiling, but was not injured. The second spotter, who was in mid-cabin reported, "I just broke my leg." The pilot diverted the flight to Alturas. No other turbulence was encountered prior to or after the accident event. Following the accident, the pilot filed a "Safecon Aviation Safety Communique" through the U.S. Forest Service aviation management website. Additionally, the pilot made the following recommendations to prevent future accidents of this nature: 1) Re-emphasize to flight crews the importance of cabin safety awareness. 2) Re-emphasize to flight crews the potential for hidden turbulence over mountainous terrain. 3) Emphasize the importance of remaining in stable air while cabin personnel are securing cargo and moving about the cabin at the completion of drop missions. 4) Ensure all personnel aboard the aircraft are seated with seatbelts fastened whenever turbulence is anticipated.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The inadvertent encounter with terrain induced turbulence. A factor was the high terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/12/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1905 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Alturas |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96101 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Alturas, CA. |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | AAT |
| 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 | 4374 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1955 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KAAT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4374 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.89 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11605 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 15 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 700 |
| 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 | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO Sacramento, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N376AS |
| NTSB Number | LAX01TA278 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | DC-3C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 27047 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 26900 |
| 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 | 23 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 22 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 110.9 |
| Airframe Hours | 18251.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Rhoades Aviation, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4770 Ray Boll Blvd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Columbus |
| Aircraft Owner State | IN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 47203 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | RDD |
| Departure City | Redding |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1730 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2002 2:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 31 |
| Runway Length | 4301 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |