Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Diego Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Diego, California 92123
Thursday, December 4, 2003 20:15 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane veered off the runway during a night landing in instrument conditions and collided with ground obstructions. The weather conditions included a visibility of less than 1/4-mile in fog, with a vertical visibility of 100 feet. The pilot stated he was able to see the field while intercepting the instrument approach course at 3,000 feet msl. Using instruments for the approach, he was still able to maintain visual contact through the 100- to 200-foot-thick layer of fog, when he reached 200 feet agl. After descending, he lost visual contact with the runway, and everything became black. He started to move the levers up for a go-around, but noticed two red lights to his left. He thought he was too close to the ground and too slow, so he decided to land. The airplane touched down on the runway a second or two later. The pilot did not maintain directional control and the airplane veered to the left. It crossed an unpaved area, then hit and crossed a taxiway. The pavement lip edge broke the nose wheel off. The airplane continued onto another unpaved area and came to rest. It was about 50 feet to the left of runway 28R, and about 100 feet to the right of runway 5. The airplane also incurred damage to the nose gear fork assembly, pressure vessel, and to frame members. The pilot stated that the accident could have been prevented had he initiated a go-around when he lost visual contact with the runway. He reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control and to initiate a timely go-around when visual contact with the runway was lost.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/4/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2015 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Diego |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92123 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 324856N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1170822W |
| Event Location Airport | San Diego |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KMYF |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 13 |
| Airport Elevation | 427 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Partial - limited by pilot |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2018 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MYF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 446 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Partial Obscuration |
| 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) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.06 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -75 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16996 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 4 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2200 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 28 2004 12:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAN-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N15C |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA058 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 525 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0377 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10700 |
| 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 | 8 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 100 |
| Airframe Hours | 850 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Michael W. Dunaway |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Escondido |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92029 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Poway |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92064 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KEUG |
| Departure City | Eugene |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1800 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MYF |
| Destination City | San Diego |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2004 6:19PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 28R |
| Runway Length | 4577 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |