Schellville/Sonoma Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Sonoma, California 95476
Tuesady, January 1, 2008 14:30 PST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The pilots were attending a fly-in at the airport. One pilot in a low-wing airplane was landing, and the other pilot in a high-wing airplane was departing. The runup area for the landing runway is situated at the beginning of the runway so that following a runup, a pilot can depart straight from the runup area onto the runway. A witness said that the landing pilot had made radio transmissions around the traffic pattern, and then indicated that he was on final approach for landing. When the landing pilot was on short final, the departing pilot indicated that he was departing. The witness was flying above the airport and advised the departing pilot that an airplane was landing. The airplanes collided shortly thereafter. According to 14 CFR 91.113, Right-of-way rules: Except water operations, "Aircraft, while on final approach to land or while landing, have the right-of-way over other aircraft in flight or operating on the surface, except that they shall not take advantage of this rule to force an aircraft off the runway surface which has already landed and is attempting to make way for an aircraft on final approach."

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The departing pilot's inadequate visual lookout.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 1/1/2008
Event Day of the Week Tuesday
Time of Event 1430
Event Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Event City Sonoma
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 95476
Event Date Year 2008
Event Date Month 1
MidAir Collision Indicator Yes
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 381326N
Event Location Longitude 1222659W
Event Location Airport Schellville/Sonoma
Event Location Nearest Airport ID OQ3
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles 0.1
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 10
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1454 Pacific Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 220
Weather Observation Facility ID DVO
Elevation of weather observation facility 2
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 7
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) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 14
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 0
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 80
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 10
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.19
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) 23388
NTSB Notification Source WP-AWP Operations Center
NTSB Notification Date Jan 1 2008 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Apr 30 2008 1:28PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\johb
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office WP-OAK-FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft #2

Aircraft Registration Number N8037W N15EX
NTSB Number SEA08LA057A SEA08LA057B
Missing Aircraft Indicator -- --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None None
Flight plan Was Activated? -- --
Damage Minor Substantial
Aircraft Fire None None
Aircraft Explosion None None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Piper Barnard/Stancil
Aircraft Model PA 28-180 Glastar
Aircraft Series Identifier -- --
Aircraft Serial Number 28-2104 5496
Certified Max Gross Weight 2400 1960
Aircraft Category Airplane Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class -- --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No Yes
Flight Crew Seats -- --
Cabin Crew Seats -- --
Passenger Seats -- --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 4 2
Number of Engines 1 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual Continuous Airworthiness
Date of Last Inspection Apr 1 2007 12:00AM Jan 1 2007 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 75 --
Airframe Hours 2865 340
ELT Installed Yes Yes
ELT Activated No No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No No
ELT Type -- --
Aircraft Owner Name Marshall White Kenneth Couey
Aircraft Owner Street Address -- --
Aircraft Owner City Sebastopol Pioneer
Aircraft Owner State CA CA
Aircraft Owner Country USA USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 95472 95666
Operator is an individual? No No
Operator Name Timothy Bennett Kenneth Couey
Operator Same as Owner? No No
Operator Is Doing Business As -- --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No No
Operator Street Address -- --
Operator City Novato Pioneer
Operator State CA CA
Operator Country USA USA
Operator Zip code 94949 95666
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) Personal Personal
Second Pilot on Board No No
Departure Point Same as Event No Yes
Departure Airport Code O69 OQ3
Departure City Petaluma Sonoma
Departure State CA CA
Departure Country USA USA
Departure Time 1400 1430
Departure Time Zone PST PST
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city --
Destination Airport Code OQ3 O70
Destination City Sonoma Jackson
Destination State CA CA
Destination Country USA USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing Takeoff - roll/run
Report sent to ICAO? -- --
Evacuation occurred -- --
Date of most recent change to record Mar 30 2008 11:02PM Mar 30 2008 11:02PM
User who most recently changed record STAM STAM
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 7 7
Runway Length 2700 2700
Runway Width 45 45
Sight Seeing flight No No
Air Medical Flight No No
Medical Flight -- --