19871226071839A

Accident · Destroyed

FAA accident report · Rolsch LS3 · Santa Ynez, CA · December 26, 1987

Date
December 26, 1987 · 16:00 local
Place
Santa Ynez, CA
Phase of flight
Unauth Low Level Opns
Operating rules
General operating rules (Part 91)
Damage
Destroyed
Aircraft
N75FE
NTSB investigation
NTSBLAX88DUQ03
Reported as
Rolsch LS3
Fatal injuries
0
Pilot’s flight hours
652 total295 in this make and model60 in the last 90 days

From the FAA’s Accident/Incident Data System (AIDS), through its Aviation Safety Information Portal, as reported. The NTSB investigates accidents separately, and its record of an accident is the fuller one. The aircraft is matched to the registry by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

What happened

The FAA’s narrative, in sentence case. The FAA writes it in capitals and removes private details.

Blinded by sun and too low and slow. Encountered a downdraft and struck a tree on a mountainside.

As the FAA filed it

BLINDED BY SUN AND TOO LOW AND SLOW. ENCOUNTERED A DOWNDRAFT AND STRUCK A TREE ON A MOUNTAINSIDE.

NTSB investigation

The NTSB’s investigation of this event, with its probable cause and findings. Matched to this report by N-number and date.