Willits Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Willits, California 95490
Sunday, September 9, 2001 14:04 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The airplane impacted trees and terrain following a loss of control during a go-around. The private pilot was landing the airplane to the north with a crosswind from the right. The airplane bounced on landing and drifted to the right side of the runway. The pilot applied power and pitched the airplane in a nose high pitch attitude. The airplane's right wing then dropped to a 90-degree angle and the airplane impacted trees to the east of the runway. The flaps were found set to 22 degrees and the elevator pitch trim tab was set at 5 degrees tab down (nose up), which is near the nose up limit stop. No anomalies were noted with the airplane that would have affected normal flight. The pilot accumulated a total of 312 flight hours, of which 100 hours were accumulated in the same make and model as the accident airplane.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the failure of the pilot to reset the elevator trim tab during the go-around, which resulted in his failure to maintain airspeed and an inadvertent stall.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/9/2001
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1404
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Willits
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 95490
Event Date Year 2001
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 392705N
Event Location Longitude 1232220W
Event Location Airport Willits Municipal
Event Location Nearest Airport ID 028
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 2063
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1356 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 158
Weather Observation Facility ID UKI
Elevation of weather observation facility 614
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 20
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) 24
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 12
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 130
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 8
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.85
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 2
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious 2
Injury Total All 4
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 15301
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Sep 9 2001 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1438
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Apr 28 2004 3:34PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office WP-FSDO Oakland, California

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N146A
NTSB Number LAX01LA303
Missing Aircraft Indicator Y
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 P206B
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number P206-0329
Certified Max Gross Weight 3600
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 6
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Jul 23 2001 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 44.38
Airframe Hours 4095.8
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Lawrence D. Farnan
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City San Mateo
Aircraft Owner State CA
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 94401
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 Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code SQL
Departure City San Carlos
Departure State CA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1305
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code 028
Destination City Willits
Destination State CA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Go-around (VFR)
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Feb 23 2004 12:17PM
User who most recently changed record COOS
Since inspection or accident Last Inspection
Event Location Runway Number and Location 34
Runway Length 3000
Runway Width 75
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --