Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ponce, Puerto Rico 00715
Saturday, July 18, 2009 23:15 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Shortly after the pilot took off in night conditions from a coastal island airport the airplane impacted the sea. There was neither low-level radar coverage of the area nor any known radio transmissions from the airplane. The pilot had intended to fly along the coast, toward his home airport to the west, but his body was recovered near the mouth of a river south of the departure airport. The only airplane wreckage recovered was a tire. The pilot, who had a reported 162 hours of flight experience, obtained his private pilot certificate about 6 weeks before the accident and purchased the airplane about 4 weeks before the accident. The pilot had delayed his flight for several hours due to en route weather and had declined several offers of ground transport. Weather at the time included a few clouds at 3,000 feet and visibility of 8 miles. Two tenths of the moon was illuminated. The departure airport had one runway, and with the prevailing winds, the pilot likely took off from runway 12, which would have resulted in a turn over water, back toward the west. Given the pilot’s relatively low experience level, the overwater flight path and the dim lighting conditions, spatial disorientation likely resulted. However, because the airplane was not recovered, a mechanical anomaly cannot be excluded.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The airplane’s impact with water for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/18/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2315 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | Ponce |
| Event State | PUERTO RICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00715 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 175710N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0663327W |
| 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 | 2258 Atlantic Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TJPS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 26 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | AST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| 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) | 27310 |
| NTSB Notification Source | USCG |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 17 2010 10:13AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5518P |
| NTSB Number | ERA09LA413 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Aircraft Explosion | Unknown |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 152 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15284964 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1670 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 1 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 20 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 17781 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CINTRON, JOSE A. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ARECIBO |
| Aircraft Owner State | PR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 00650 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | CINTRON, JOSE A. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | ARECIBO |
| Operator State | PR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 00650 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | TJPS |
| Departure City | PONCE |
| Departure State | PR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2315 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | TJAB |
| Destination City | ARECIBO |
| Destination State | PR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 5 2010 1:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |