Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Nevada County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Grass Valley, California 95959
Monday, January 19, 2004 18:25 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with trees while attempting to land in IFR conditions of near zero visibility in fog. While en route to the destination airport on an IFR clearance, the TRACON controller observed the airplane's transponder discrete code change to 7600 (used by flight crews to indicate a communications failure). The TRACON controller determined that the pilot could hear them, but they could not hear his transmissions. Because of the requirement for full communications in controlled, Class B airspace, they suggested the pilot contact a nearby airport outside of the Class B airspace on the frequency they provided. The pilot contacted the suggested ATCT while 12 miles west of that airport, and the controller could barely hear the pilot's transmissions. The pilot advised the tower to cancel his IFR flight plan and he would proceed visual flight rules (VFR) back to his departure airport without VFR flight following. This was the last communication from the pilot. Witnesses heard the pilot make two approach attempts to land at original departure airport but they could not see the airplane because the airport had become zero visibility and zero ceiling in fog about 20 minutes prior to the airplanes arrival.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's continued visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions and failure to maintain an adequate terrain/object clearance altitude. Also causal was the pilot's improper in-flight decision to return to the origin airport in the face of deteriorating weather conditions instead of diverting to a more suitable alternate.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/19/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1825 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Grass Valley |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95959 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391301N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1210001W |
| Event Location Airport | Nevada County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 017 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.34 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 3068 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1850 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 177 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KAUN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1520 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Indefinite (V V) |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0.25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| 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) | 30.09 |
| 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) | 18491 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 19 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2005 6:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAC-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N99LR |
| NTSB Number | LAX04FA096 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172K |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17259099 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | Feb 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 112 |
| Airframe Hours | 5049 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Leonard L. Robinson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Menlo Park |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94025 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Edward R. Castro |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | San Jose |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 95133 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | O17 |
| Departure City | Grass Valley |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1648 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PAO |
| Destination City | Palo Alto |
| 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 | Jul 28 2005 3:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | 4350 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |