Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Eastsound, Washington 98245
Saturday, January 18, 2003 20:10 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
At the time of departure for the 30 minute night flight to an island destination, the pilot set his altimeter to field elevation instead of to the broadcast barometric pressure from the nearby Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS). During the climbout, the pilot contact Air Traffic Control, which gave him an altimeter barometric pressure setting and advised him of radar contact passing 2,500 feet. At that point the pilot set his altimeter to an indicated altitude of 2,500 feet instead of at the correct barometric pressure setting. Upon arriving in the area of the destination airport, the pilot found it covered by a low-level fog layer. Without acquiring an updated altimeter setting from the ASOS on the neighboring island, or from the Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) on the nearby mainland, he descended over the water in order to try to find a way to get to the airport underneath the fog. Just after leveling off at what his altimeter indicated was 500 feet, the aircraft impacted the water. It was ultimately determined that at no time during the flight did the pilot set the aircraft's altimeter in reference to an issued barometric pressure.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the water and his failure to reset the altimeter to the local barometric pressure. Contributing factors were fog and night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/18/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2010 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Eastsound |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98245 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 484207N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1225645W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14100 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 18 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2215 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 30 2003 9:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7282C |
| NTSB Number | SEA03FA028 |
| 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 | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 7690065 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Jul 26 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 79 |
| Airframe Hours | 3210 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Michael D. Triplett |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Eastsound |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98245 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | W28 |
| Departure City | Sequim |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1940 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ORS |
| Destination City | Eastsound |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 16 2003 4:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| 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 | -- |