Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Encinitas, California 92024
Monday, August 25, 2003 10:10 PDT

During a daytime solo cross-country flight the student pilot, en route to his private pilot certification examination, became spatially disoriented and inadvertently descended into the ocean while maneuvering to avoid inclement weather. The student's certified flight instructor (CFI) was not present at the airport on the day of the accident flight. The CFI reported that on the previous day he had authorized his student to fly from San Diego to Long Beach, where the examination was to take place. On the day of the accident the student pilot received a weather briefing about 2 hours prior to his departure. He was advised, in part, that instrument meteorological conditions existed and were forecast along a portion of his planned route of flight, and that the conditions were forecast to improve. Thereafter, the student telephoned his flight instructor and discussed the briefing, but (according to the student's CFI) he did not advise the CFI that the weather conditions were, in certain locations, below the limits established for his flying or that instrument weather conditions existed. Without independently verifying the weather forecast, the CFI authorized the flight, and the student took off at his planned departure time on a northerly course paralleling the coastline. After about 9 minutes of flight, at 1009:03, the student pilot stated to a local air traffic controller "I'm in a little trouble" and "I'm gonna start climbing to get out of clouds." The northbound student pilot commenced a left turn while flying northbound over the ocean. This positioned the helicopter farther off shore. During the turn the student pilot said to the controller, at 1009:45, "I need to get out of the clouds visibility is really bad out here." At 1009:50, the controller said "if you would like to go (inland) to the I-5 (interstate freeway) and follow north that's approved." The pilot responded with his last recorded transmission and stated at 1010:00, "Roger I'm gonna start climbing." Recorded radar indicates that the pilot climbed from 200 to 600 feet, whereupon the radar track ended upon completion of a left 360-degree turn. The helicopter wreckage was located 0.3 miles from its last radar location, and about 0.5 miles offshore. An Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation safety inspector was located near the shoreline. He reported observing fog along the coast and said the visibility was about 1/8-mile. The student's CFI subsequently acknowledged to the Safety Board investigator that he had not independently ascertained the weather, but had relied upon what the student told him in authorizing the flight. The CFI reported that, had he known the actual weather conditions, he would not have authorized the flight. The FAA requires, before a CFI authorizes a student's solo cross-country flight, that the CFI has reviewed the current and forecast weather conditions and has determined that the flight can be completed under visual flight rules.

The student pilot's spatial disorientation and inadvertent descent into the ocean while maneuvering to avoid inclement weather. Also causal was the flight instructor's inadequate supervision due to his improper approval of his student's preflight preparation and failure to ensure that the flight could be performed under visual flight rules. Contributing factors were the low cloud condition, and the student's improper weather evaluation and preflight planning.