Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Needles, California 92363
Tuesady, November 11, 2003 11:05 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane broke up in flight and impacted terrain. A search and rescue (SAR) crew located the airplane after the issuance of a family concerned alert notification (ALNOT). A review of the radar data showed a target consistent with the accident airplane at a mode C reported altitude of 12,300 feet mean sea level (msl) at 1103:45. The target continued in a westerly direction, and at 1104:56, the mode C altitude was 5,000 feet, which equates to a calculated 9,400 feet per minute (fpm) rate of descent. The last target was 12 seconds later at 1105:08, at a mode C altitude of 3,300 feet. The primary wreckage consisted of the fuselage, right wing, landing gear, and engine. The left wing was 1 mile west of the main wreckage on the eastern slope of a mountain peak. The left main wing spar separated from the inboard stub section, with compression wrinkles noted in the webbing of the outboard left main wing spar. The lower spar cap had a smooth fracture surface and the upper spar cap had an angular fracture surface, features consistent with the wing failing in negative aerodynamic loading. The right wing main spar remained attached to the stub carry through spar and the webbing was also wrinkled. Analysis of the meteorological conditions disclosed that a strong west-southwesterly jet stream was advecting mid- and high-level moisture from off Baja, California, into the southwestern United States. Light rain and rain showers were occurring over southern California and were associated with this moisture advection. The closest weather reporting facility was somewhat downstream of the accident location with respect to cloud movement. Observations made from the facility during the hour before the accident indicated that the cloud ceiling lowered during that period to around 11,000 feet. One Pilot Report (PIREPs) near Blythe, California, confirmed the presence of towering cumulus (TCU) in the area. Radar and satellite data indicated that convective clouds were in the accident area and rapidly increasing in altitude with very strong vertical motion around the accident time. In addition, deviations in the accident airplane's mode C altitude data just before the accident indicates that strong up- and downdrafts were present in the area. Strong jet stream winds near 100 knots were present in the area about the height of the convective clouds. Therefore, isolated strong convective downdrafts were possible in the area of the breakup. While proceeding westbound, the airplane was probably in the vicinity of the northern edge of a rapidly developing convective buildup. The pilot probably encountered moderate to severe turbulence due to strong updrafts and downdrafts just before the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's continuation of a visual flight rules (VFR) flight into an area of adverse weather, which resulted in an encounter with moderate to severe turbulence and in-flight breakup of the airplane.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/11/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1105 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Needles |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92363 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 342414N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1144511W |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 956 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EED |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 983 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 37 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20583 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 11 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2310 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 31 2006 8:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RAL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N647C |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA041 |
| 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 | Daughters |
| Aircraft Model | T18C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 36 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Carl F. Daughters |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Arroyo Grande |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93420 |
| 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 | GEU |
| Departure City | GLENDALE |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1015 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SMX |
| Destination City | SANTA MARIA |
| 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 | Aug 26 2006 12:48PM |
| 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 | -- |