Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fullerton Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
La Mirada, California 90638
Sunday, December 19, 2004 9:48 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with a radio transmission tower while on an extended base leg of the traffic pattern at the Fullerton airport in day visual meteorological conditions. The pilot made contact with the control tower, indicating his position, and that he had the current ATIS information. The controller cleared the airplane for a left base entry to the runway. When the airplane was about 3 miles north of the airport the controller cleared the airplane to land. Shortly thereafter, the airplane impacted the radio transmission tower about 15 feet below the top. A review of the pilot's logbooks revealed that he had been to the airport at least four times prior to the accident flight. At the time of the accident, the sun was about 27 degrees above the horizon and about 20 degrees horizontally from the pilot's flight path. The transmission tower stood about 760 feet above ground level (agl), and was depicted on both the applicable Terminal Area Chart and in the Airport/ Facility Directory. The airport's traffic pattern altitude was 1,100 feet mean sea level (msl) or 1,004 feet agl. Historically, the airport property was used as an aircraft landing field starting in 1913, and has been continuously operated as an airport. The radio tower, located 1.77 nautical miles from the airport, was constructed in 1948. The setting of the altimeter found in the wreckage was in error and the altimeter would have displayed an altitude that was 50 feet higher than the airplane was in actuality.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadequate visual lookout and failure to maintain altitude/clearance from a transmission tower while on an extended base leg of the traffic pattern. A factor in the accident was the sun glare condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/19/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 948 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | La Mirada |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90638 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 335277N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1180085W |
| Event Location Airport | Fullerton Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FUL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1.7 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 96 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 100 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FUL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 117 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| 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) | 30.18 |
| 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) | 19205 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 19 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2006 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-LAX-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9187G |
| NTSB Number | LAX05FA054 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 182P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18263383 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2950 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Oct 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 28 |
| Airframe Hours | 2901.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lightning Aircraft Corporation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1719 Caffrey Lane |
| Aircraft Owner City | West Covina |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91791 |
| 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 | EMT |
| Departure City | El Monte |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 915 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FUL |
| Destination City | Fullerton |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - turn to base |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2005 5:25PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 06 |
| Runway Length | 3121 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |