Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Avalon, California 90704
Monday, October 7, 2002 13:50 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was spotting fish for a boat and lost radio communication. In an attempt to reestablish contact, he attempted a series of low altitude passes. A box pattern was set up, and several attempts to communicate were made without success. The pilot decided to try to drop a message into the boat. The pilot said that he was distracted by the task and fatigued by the nearly 3-hour flight and did not maintain sufficient altitude. When he realized that a collision with the water was imminent, he added power and pulled back on the control yoke but was unable to avoid contact with the ocean surface. He stated that prior to impact, all controls were functioning and responsive and that the engine was operating smoothly and gave no indication of a malfunction. The only anomaly that the pilot could recall was that the engine did not seem to respond after he added power seconds before impact. Due to the low altitude the pilot did not have time to send out a distress call or troubleshoot the engine's lack of response.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain sufficient altitude while maneuvering at low altitude. Factors were the pilot's fatigue and the distraction of trying to drop a message onto a boat.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/7/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1350 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Avalon |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90704 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 331500N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1183000W |
| 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 | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1350 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 11 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KAVX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1602 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.96 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3603 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15305 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 7 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1735 |
| 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-Long Beach, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N90168 |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA003 |
| 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 | 140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 9233 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1450 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 10 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50 |
| Airframe Hours | 3100 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jack M. Durner |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Chelmsford |
| Aircraft Owner State | MA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 01824 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Dean Sibley |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Arcadia |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 91006 |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | EMT |
| Departure City | El Monte |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1100 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | AJO |
| Destination City | Corona |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 24 2004 5:58PM |
| 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 | -- |