Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Stonyford, California 95979
Wednesday, January 30, 2002 18:54 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The twin engine airplane impacted mountainous terrain at the 6,700-foot level during moonless night flight operations. The instrument rated pilot radioed the Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and requested flight following and a vector to the destination airport. The pilot indicated he was flying at 6,700 feet and was descending. The controller radar identified the airplane and issued the recommended heading. The pilot asked for additional distance and airspeed information, which was provided by the controller, and no further radio contact with the pilot was attained. The airplane impacted a mountain approximately 50 feet below its crest in the approximate direction of the radar ground track. A post accident examination of the airplane and engines revealed no anomalies that would have prevented its normal operations. Interviews with the air traffic controllers, who were providing the accident airplane's flight following information, indicated they did not think the airplane was in imminent danger of impacting terrain; therefore, they did not issue a low altitude alert. Controllers are required to immediately issue an alert to an airplane if they are aware the airplane is at an altitude, which in the controllers judgment, places it in unsafe proximity to terrain/obstructions. The controllers reported they have worked numerous airplanes in that area at similar altitudes as the accident airplane and did not think the accident airplane was any different. The controllers added that they did not have terrain information overlaid on their video map for the accident area. The responsibility to maintain terrain clearance during visual meteorological conditions rests with the pilot. The accident area sectional chart depicts a maximum elevation figure (MEF) for the accident site quadrant as 7,400 feet.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain terrain clearance during cruise flight, which resulted in the in-flight collision with mountainous terrain. Factors in the accident were the mountainous terrain and the dark night light conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/30/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1854 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Stonyford |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95979 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 392611N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1224144W |
| 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 | 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) | 220 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | UKI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 614 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 5 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.27 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14942 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 30 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2122 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 2 2004 8:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3636M |
| NTSB Number | LAX02FA073 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | Aerostar 601P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 61P07848063397 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6000 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 1 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1275.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Allan J. D. Klinker |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Santa Barbara |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93111 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | John Michael Turner |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Oakland |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 94612 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CIC |
| Departure City | Chico |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1840 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | UKI |
| Destination City | Ukiah |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 21 2003 5:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |