Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Watsonville Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Watsonville, California 95076
Saturday, August 30, 2003 20:05 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with trees and terrain while the pilot was searching for the airport in instrument metrological conditions (IMC). Prior to departure, the non-instrument rated pilot programmed the flight's intended route into the moving map display of the onboard global positioning system (GPS), as a means to navigate. After passing over mountains located to the east of the airport, the pilot observed the ground to be obscured by fog. The pilot continued further west, maneuvering the airplane over Monterey bay and then circled back to the east toward the airport. While en route, the pilot was searching for the lights on the golf driving range, located about 1/2 mile west of the airport. He was unable to see the lights, and the airplane impacted mountainous terrain, coming to rest in an oak tree. Several minutes before the accident weather reports indicated overcast ceilings of 300 feet above ground level with a visibility of 7 miles.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the non-instrument rated pilot's intentional continuance of VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions and failure to maintain clearance with terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/30/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2005 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Watsonville |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95076 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 365519N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1215018W |
| Event Location Airport | Watsonville Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | WVI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 160 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1953 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | WVI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 160 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 300 |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| 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) | -57 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17975 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 30 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2035 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2005 10:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SJC-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N707JH |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA271 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Mooney |
| Aircraft Model | M20C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2651 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2575 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James E. Pryor |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Murphys |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95247 |
| 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 | MAE |
| Departure City | Madera |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1930 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | WVI |
| Destination City | Watsonville |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 19 2005 2:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |