Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Luis Obispo Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Luis Obispo, California 93401
Monday, August 1, 2005 21:53 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While on the crosswind leg during initial climb, the pilot cruised into upsloping terrain about 0.9 miles from the runway. The pilot's day began when he departed his residence about 0700. Thereafter, he commuted to work, which involved flying a borrowed airplane to a neighboring city. Upon completing work, the pilot was dropped off at the airport. The pilot intended either to fly home or to the location where his next day's work was to be performed. He was due to report to work the following morning at 0730. It was a dark night, and an overcast ceiling existed at 800 feet above the ground. No moon or stars were visible from the airport. A hill was located about 1 mile northeast of the airport. The pilot departed using runway 11, made a left crosswind turn, and impacted the hill while climbing in controlled flight. Fire department personnel responding to the accident site said that the clouds were nearly at ground level and that the forward (horizontal) visibility was between 1/4- and 1/2-mile. The pilot had received his private pilot certificate the preceding month, at a total flight time of 69.6 hours, including 3.5 hours at night.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's continued flight into instrument meteorological conditions, and his failure to maintain clearance from the rising hilly terrain. Contributing factors were the pilot's inexperience regarding flying during the dark, nighttime condition, and the low ceiling.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/1/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2153 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Luis Obispo |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93401 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 351470N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1203730W |
| Event Location Airport | San Luis Obispo |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SBP |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 212 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2156 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 233 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SBP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 212 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 800 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| 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) | 29.94 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20967 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 1 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | San Jose, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4401X |
| NTSB Number | LAX05FA255 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-151 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7615007 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2325 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 141 |
| Airframe Hours | 5379 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Chester Morris |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fresno |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93704 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Herber J. Meeks |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Fresno |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | 93720 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SBP |
| Departure City | SAN LUIS OBISPO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2150 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Not Determined |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb - to cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 21 2007 7:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 11 |
| Runway Length | 5300 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |