Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
El Cajon, California 92020
Wednesday, February 8, 2006 16:42 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A Cessna 182Q and a Cessna 172RG, were operating in class D airspace and departed from the same airport. The Cessna 172RG was operating under instrument flight rules as an instructional flight (IFR) and receiving radar service from an approach control facility, while the Cessna 182 was operating under visual flight rules (VFR) and had been released from communication with air traffic control. The pilot undergoing instruction in the Cessna 172RG was most likely wearing a view limiting device which tasked the certified flight instructor seated in the right seat to serve as both an instructor and a safety pilot. The Cessna 172RG departed first, performing a right 260-degree turn over the airport and was assigned a southwest heading by the controller. The Cessna 182Q departed to the west and made a left turn, while climbing in a southeasterly direction. The heading assigned to the Cessna 172RG put it on a direct collision course with the Cessna 182Q, with a collision angle of 40 degrees. Following a discussion with the controller about the pilot's intentions upon completion of an approach, the controller instructed the Cessna 172RG to fly heading 190. The pilot read back, "One nine" and no further transmissions were received from the Cessna 172RG. In class D airspace, there is no specified separation requirement between VFR and IFR aircraft. However, controllers still have a responsibility to be vigilant for potential collisions between aircraft under these circumstances. This accident occurred after the controllers in communication with the Cessna 172RG had received a sustained conflict alert involving the Cessna 172RG and Cessna 182Q (operating on a VFR transponder code), but failed to recognize or resolve the conflict. Comparisons of the calculated convergence angles of the two airplanes showed that for an 85th percentile male seated in the left seat (Cessna did not create pilot view angles for pilots seated in the front right seat), the Cessna 172RG pilot was about 15 degrees outside of the right view angle and the Cessna 182Q pilot was within about 6 degrees of the left view angle.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilots of both airplanes failure to maintain an adequate visual lookout due to their relative flight paths, which limited the available visual cues. Factors were the failure of the air traffic controller(s) to issue a conflict alert to the Cessna 172RG after repeated visual and aural warnings of an impending collision and the task load of the certified flight instructor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/8/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1642 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | El Cajon |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92020 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | Yes |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 324713N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1165908W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1647 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSEE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 388 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21116 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 8 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-SAN-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9531B | N759KE |
| NTSB Number | LAX06FA106A | LAX06FA106B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes | No |
| Damage | Destroyed | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172RG | 182Q |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 172RG0859 | 18266048 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2650 | 2950 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane | 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 1 2005 12:00AM | Feb 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 66 | 3 |
| Airframe Hours | 5429 | 2958.87 |
| ELT Installed | Yes | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No | No |
| ELT Type | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Scandinavian Aviation Academy, Inc. | Signal Mountain Aviation, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 8665 Gibbs Dr. Suite 110 | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Diego | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92123 | 19810 |
| Operator is an individual? | No | No |
| Operator Name | -- | William Kupiec |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- | -- |
| Operator City | -- | La Jolla |
| Operator State | -- | CA |
| Operator Country | -- | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- | 92037 |
| Operator Code | -- | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None | 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) | Instructional | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KSEE | KSEE |
| Departure City | El Cajon | El Cajon |
| Departure State | CA | CA |
| Departure Country | USA | USA |
| Departure Time | 1637 | 1638 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KSDM | KSDM |
| Destination City | Brown Field | San Diego |
| Destination State | CA | CA |
| Destination Country | USA | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb - to cruise | Climb - to cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 12 2007 4:09PM | Feb 12 2007 4:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA | NA |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No | No |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |