Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Little River Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Little River, California 95456
Wednesday, October 31, 2001 18:00 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While making a Visual Flight Rules approach in Instrument Flight Rules conditions, the airplane impacted trees and terrain 1.5 miles from the airport. There is no record that the pilot requested or received a weather briefing for the flight. A witness at the airport said that he heard an aircraft circling in the vicinity of the airport; however, he could not see it because of the low clouds and fog over the field. Using his hand-held radio on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) 122.7, the witness established contact with the pilot. The pilot said he was trying to land at the airport, and at one point could see the runway lights through the fog, but had lost sight of the runway. The witness then heard the aircraft continue to the east at what sounded like a reduced power setting. The witness did not hear any unusual engine sounds emanating from the airplane. There was no further communications from the pilot. A resident living near the crash site heard the sounds of an impact and reported the event to the sheriff's department. Search efforts were hampered by fog and low visibility conditions and the wreckage was not located until about 1000 the next day. The accident site is 1.5 miles north east of the airport at an elevation about 200 feet higher than the runway. The airport manager estimated the visibility to be about 1-mile with a 300-foot ceiling. Examination of the engine and airframe revealed no discrepancies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's continued VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in a collision with trees and terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/31/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Little River |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95456 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391631N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1234200W |
| Event Location Airport | Little River |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | O48 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 40 |
| Airport Elevation | 572 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1856 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 130 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | UKI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 625 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 26 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Overcast |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.06 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 673 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17971 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 1 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1350 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2005 10:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-OAK-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7270E |
| NTSB Number | LAX02FA019 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 182S |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18280480 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3100 |
| 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 | Oct 10 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 399 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Elly Van Den Bosch |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Palo Alto |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94306 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Joel Bornstein |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Little River |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 95456 |
| 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 | PAO |
| Departure City | Palo Alto |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1700 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | O48 |
| Destination City | Little River |
| 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 | Apr 19 2005 2:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 29 |
| Runway Length | 5253 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |