Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
North Island Nas/Halsey Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Diego, California 92112
Friday, December 1, 2006 10:35 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane sustained an in-flight loss of the right elevator during an in-flight upset while maneuvering. The pilot was flying the airplane from the left seat. The mishap airplane rendezvoused with another Learjet to begin a series of profiles for flight testing. The crew noted that the horizon was very difficult to discern. While maneuvering for the second set of data points, the pilot lost sight of the other airplane, and rolled right to remain clear. His vision was impaired by the glare from the sun, which delayed his recognition of the airplane entering an unusual attitude. The pilot initiated recovery with the airplane in an estimated 70-degree right bank, 50-degree nose down attitude, and an airspeed of 380 KIAS. During the dive, the crew noted that the airplane was definitely shuddering, but did not recall any rolling tendencies or vibration of the control yoke. The crew conducted a controllability check by slowing it to 150 KIAS and lowering the landing gear. Again the airplane exhibited no unusual flight characteristics. The remainder of the flight and landing were uneventful. During post flight inspection, the aircrew discovered that the right elevator was missing.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control while maneuvering, which resulted in exceeding the design stress limits of the aircraft. Contributing to the accident was the sunglare.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/1/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1035 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Diego |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92112 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 310942N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1192053W |
| Event Location Airport | NORTH ISLAND NAS/HALSEY FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NZY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 161 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 26 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 855 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 36 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | NZY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 26 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 140 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -9 |
| 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) | 30.11 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23142 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 4 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 31 2008 11:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO-San Diego, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N26FN |
| NTSB Number | LAX07TA051 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Learjet |
| Aircraft Model | 36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 011 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 18300 |
| 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 | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 12043 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | L-3 Communications Flight Capital LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1 Lear Dr |
| Aircraft Owner City | Newport News |
| Aircraft Owner State | VA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 23602 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | L-3 Communications Flight Internata |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Madison |
| Operator State | MS |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 39110 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NZY |
| Departure City | San Diego |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 930 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2008 5:37PM |
| 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 | -- |