Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
La Canada, California 91011
Thursday, March 30, 2006 14:53 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was receiving VFR flight following services from Air Traffic Control and was climbing to his cruise altitude of 9,500 feet when he requested information regarding the tops of the clouds. The pilot stated that he was VFR, and had gone through some clouds. The controller informed the pilot that he was in an area of intermittent radar coverage, and asked him if he was able to maintain VFR. The pilot replied that he could, and that he was at 6,800 feet. A few seconds later, the controller lost radar and radio contact. No distress call was received and an over-flying airplane tried unsuccessfully to establish radio contact. Radar data indicated that a target in the vicinity of the accident site appeared to make two left 360-degree turns. A witness saw the airplane come spiraling out of the bottom of the clouds with the nose pointed straight towards the ground. No preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures were identified in the wreckage. Two weeks prior to the accident, the pilot had extensive surgery to remove a recurrent tumor in his maxillary sinus. At the time of the accident, the pilot was returning home from a post-surgical meeting at which the surgeon informed the pilot that some tumor remained in his eye socket. The pilot's options would be radiation to the eye, additional surgery to remove the floor of the eye socket and possibly the eye as well, or watch the tumor grow prior to taking any action. The pilot had likely recovered from most of the immediate effects of that surgery. The pilot had ibuprofen in his blood, suggesting that he had some continuing pain or discomfort, which might have reduced his attention to flight related tasks. He might also have been distracted or depressed by the prospect of additional surgery and/or the possible loss of one eye. His decision to fly or respond to events during flight could have been sub optimal due to post surgical issues.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control and an adequate airspeed during climb to cruise that led to a stall/spin. Contributing to the accident were the clouds and the pilot's physiological state.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/30/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1453 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | La Canada |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91011 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 341504N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1181033W |
| 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 | 1453 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 245 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BUR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 778 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.99 |
| 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) | 23075 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 30 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2008 3:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Van Nuys, CA FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4641W |
| NTSB Number | LAX06FA133 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Rockwell |
| Aircraft Model | 112 TCA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 13171 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1829 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | John G. Rice |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Las Vegas |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89129 |
| 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 | SMO |
| Departure City | Santa Monica |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1429 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | VGT |
| Destination City | North Las Vegas |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb - to cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 8 2008 3:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |