Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Joshua Tree, California 92252
Monday, January 18, 2010 8:24 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The certified flight instructor (CFI) and his student pilot began the instructional flight from an uncontrolled airport with an elevation of 2,464 feet mean sea level (msl). They planned to fly to a controlled airport (elevation 477 feet msl) located about 27 miles of their departure airport. En route, the pilots climbed to at least 6,000 feet msl and encountered several layers of clouds. At their destination airport, about 30 minutes before to about 30 minutes after the accident, clouds were reported at various elevations including 3,800; 5,000; 6,500 and 7,500 feet msl. The student pilot reported that while en route he observed clouds above, below, and at the airplane's cruise altitude with the visibility from 1/2 to 1 mile. Just before the accident sequence began, the CFI was handling the flight controls while trying to fly around the clouds and collided into a mountain at 5,250-foot msl. Near the time of the accident a witness, located about 2 miles from the crash site, observed thick fog covering the roadway on which he was traveling. The accident location was about 14 miles from the departure airport. Terrain in the vicinity was depicted on the appropriate aeronautical chart with peak elevations between 5,600 and 5,800 feet msl. Following recovery, the airplane was examined, during which no evidence was found of any preimpact malfunction or failure.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The certified flight instructor's decision to continue visual flight into deteriorating weather, which resulted in his inadvertent encounter with instrument meteorological conditions and subsequent failure to maintain clearance with terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/18/2010 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 824 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Joshua Tree |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92252 |
| Event Date Year | 2010 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 335715N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1161133W |
| 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 | 753 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 51 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PSP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 477 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 7000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 27846 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA WP Comm Ctr. |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 9 2010 4:50PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N13073 |
| NTSB Number | WPR10LA115 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17262476 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 16 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 91 |
| Airframe Hours | 3285 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Karen Hausteen & Rocky Harvey |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | JOSHUA TREE |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92252-0828 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Henry Warner |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | San Bernardino |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92277 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | L80 |
| Departure City | Joshua Tree |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PSP |
| Destination City | Palm Springs |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 9 2010 4:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| 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 | -- |