Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Van Nuys Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sherman Oaks, California 91423
Saturday, May 24, 2003 12:25 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On a standard instrument departure procedure, the airplane came out of the clouds in a steep, nose down, inverted attitude and collided with terrain. The weather at the departure airport was 1,700-foot overcast with the tops ranging from about 4,000 to 4,500 feet. The mode C altitude reporting system on board the airplane initially was reporting 1,400 msl, but the pilot reported climbing out of 2,300 msl. Air traffic control made numerous queries about the altitude anomalies and repeatedly asked the pilot to recycle the transponder. In this aircraft, the transponder control head was mounted on the lower right side avionics rail abeam the pilot's seat back. The pilot would have to look down, to the right, and aft to alter any settings on the transponder during flight. The airplane was climbing on a southeasterly course. After a minute ATC issued a left turn to 040 degrees. The pilot acknowledged the course change, but the recorded radar track continued in a southeasterly direction until its last recorded point. Twenty-three seconds after the pilot acknowledged the course change and reported leaving 3,000 feet, he asked ATC if it was a left or right turn to 040. ATC instructed the pilot to turn off the transponder's mode C function. There were no further recorded transmissions from the pilot. The last recorded mode C data occurred 17 seconds after the pilot's last transmission. The mode C altitude reports from the airplane varied from 1,300 feet to a high of 4,100 feet, and erratically fluctuated between those values. The airplane came out of the clouds in a steep, nose down, inverted position, and heading in a northeasterly direction. The wreckage was located north of the last recorded radar position.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's in-flight loss of control due to spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were the distraction caused by the malfunctioning mode C altitude reporting system, and the location of the transponder control head, which necessitated repeated pilot head movements to the right and down while in instrument meteorological conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/24/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1225 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Sherman Oaks |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91423 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340830N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1182557W |
| Event Location Airport | VAN NUYS |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VNY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 5.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 133 |
| Airport Elevation | 799 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1224 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 313 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VNY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 799 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1207 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16109 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 24 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1254 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 1 2004 7:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP- FSDO- VAN NUYS |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N537Z |
| NTSB Number | LAX03FA162 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | North American |
| Aircraft Model | T28C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 140537 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 9000 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 14 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 8675.7 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | STEVE J. MASKET |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Los Angeles |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90046 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | VNY |
| Departure City | Van Nuys |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1222 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | TRM |
| Destination City | Thermal |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb - to cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 29 2004 6:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |