Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Arcata, California 95519
Sunday, July 16, 2006 22:32 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was receiving flight following from air traffic control (ATC). While en route to the destination airport, the weather deteriorated to instrument flight rules conditions. He requested the instrument landing system (ILS) approach. ATC cleared him for a procedure turn to the ILS approach course, and to cross the initial approach fix (IAF) at or above 5,200 feet. The runway threshold was 316 degrees at 14.7 miles from the IAF. Recorded radar data indicated that the airplane began descending prior to reaching the IAF; the airplane was 800 feet low while still 1 mile from it. The airplane continued descending until colliding with trees. It was on the approximate localizer approach path, but the debris path was on a heading about 90 degrees off the approach course. The airplane's last reported Mode C altitude was 1,600 feet mean seal level (msl). The wreckage was about 11 nautical miles from the runway at an elevation of about 1,735 feet. The glide slope altitude was 1,753 feet at the outer marker (OM), which was 4.6 nm from the runway threshold.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to follow the prescribed instrument approach procedure and to maintain the proper glide slope and altitude/clearance from obstacles while on an instrument landing system approach, resulting in a collision with trees. Contributing to the accident was the dark night lighting conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/16/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2232 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Arcata |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95519 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 405003N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1240045W |
| 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 | 2218 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 326 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ACV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 221 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| 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) | 24000 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 17 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 30 2008 9:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Federal Aviation Administration |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N522A |
| NTSB Number | LAX06FA233 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bellanca |
| Aircraft Model | 14-19 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2075 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2600 |
| 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 | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Victor Steelhammer |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Santa Clarita |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91321 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | O08 |
| Departure City | Colusa |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2112 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KACV |
| Destination City | Arcata Airport |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 21 2008 5:49PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |