Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Visalia Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Visalia, California 93277
Friday, January 13, 2006 18:19 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane stalled while the pilot was turning from the base leg to final at his home based airport and impacted the ground in an uncontrolled descent. The airplane came to rest 410 feet from the approach end of the active runway. The ground scars and wreckage deformation signatures indicated the ground impact occurred with a high vertical component and very little horizontal energy. Night visual meteorological conditions existed with calm winds. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any mechanical anomaly to preclude normal operation of the engines or the airplane control systems. No personal flight records were located for the pilot. Based on interviews with acquaintances and family members, the pilot flew often. On his most recent Federal Aviation Administration airman medical application, dated about 1 year prior to the accident, he noted a total flight time of 5,700 flight hours with 75 hours flown in the past 6 months. Review of the pilot's medical records from his personal physician revealed that the pilot had been experiencing back pain that seemed to significantly interfere with his ability to sleep. The toxicological results were positive for extremely high levels of doxylamine, a highly sedating over-the-counter antihistamine, often used in sleep aids such as Unisom Sleep Tabs. The substance had likely accumulated due to daily use and/or use in excess of the maximum recommended dose. The pilot was likely having difficulty obtaining adequate and/or qualitative sleep.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain airspeed during the landing approach, which resulted in a stall and uncontrolled descent. Contributing factors to the accident were the pilot's impairment due to his prolonged use of a highly sedating over-the-counter sleep aid and fatigue due to lack of sleep.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/13/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1819 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Visalia |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93277 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 361841N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1192302W |
| Event Location Airport | Visalia Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VIS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 295 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1820 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KVIS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 295 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| 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) | 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21110 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 13 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 26 2007 9:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FAT-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7291Y |
| NTSB Number | LAX06FA089 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-30 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 30-329 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 2981.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Bernard and Betty Sinor |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Visalia |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93291 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Bernard Sinor |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Visalia |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 93291 |
| 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 | C83 |
| Departure City | Byron |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1700 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | VIS |
| Destination City | Visalia |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 30 2007 5:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 6559 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |