# Accident 19980313003409A: Socata TBM700, Truckee, CA, March 13, 1998

- Type: FAA accident report (Accident/Incident Data System), as reported
- Date: March 13, 1998, 19:00 local time
- Place: Truckee, CA
- Airport: Truckee-Tahoe Airport
- Damage: Destroyed
- Phase of flight: In Traffic Pattern-Circling
- Operating rules: General operating rules (Part 91)
- Location: 39.3166° N, 120.1214° W: Placed by OpenAirDocs from the FAA’s distance and direction from , within about a mile (OpenAirDocs)
- Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=39.3166&lon=-120.1214&mi=10
- Aircraft: N345RD, a cancelled registration (https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N345RD-2002-03-29) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry model: Socata TBM 700 (registry code 8682000, https://openairdocs.org/model/socata-tbm-700) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry engine: Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-6 series (registry code 52150, https://openairdocs.org/engine/pratt-whitney-canada-pt6a-6-series) (OpenAirDocs)
- Reported make and model: SOCATA TBM700
- Fatal injuries: 0
- Pilot flight hours: 2,088 total, 1,200 in this make and model, 75 in the last 90 days
- NTSB investigation: [NTSB LAX98LA114](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/LAX98LA114) (OpenAirDocs)
- FAA source: FAA Aviation Safety Information Portal (https://asip.faa.gov/)
- Page: https://openairdocs.org/incident/19980313003409A

## Narrative

As the FAA filed it, in capitals; the FAA replaces private details with ^PRIVACY DATA OMITTED^.

AFTER GPS APPROACH BECAME DISORIENTATED CIRCILING TO LAND AND FLEW INTO GROUND. (.4) THE PILOT WAS CLEARED FOR A GPS APPROACH. HE STATED THAT HE WAS TOO HIGH TO MAKE A GOOD LANDING, SO HE OPTED FOR A CIRCLING APPROACH TO ANOTHER RUNWAY. AS HE TURNED FOR THE BASE LEG, HE LOST VISUAL CONTACT AND BECAME DISORIENTED. IT WAS A DARK NIGHT WITH NO MOON. THE PILOT REALIZED THAT HE WAS IN A 70- TO 80- DEGREE LEFT BANK AND RETURNED THE AIRPLANE TO A LEVEL ATTITUDE, THEN NOTICED THE GROUND DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF HIM. THE AIRCRAFT RAN THROUGH A BARBED WIRE FENCE, COLLIDED WITH TREES, AND SLID REARWIND TO A STOP IN A HIGH ALTITUDE MEADOW EAST OF THE AIRPORT. THE FAA COMPLETED AN EVALUATION OF THE CIRCLING APPROACH PROCEDURES AND NIGHT OPERATIONS FOR THAT AIRPORT AND DID NOT FIND ANY PROBLEMS. (-23) PILOT COMPLETED GPS RWY 19 APPROACH, WHILE CIRCLING AT "NIGHT" TO RWY 28. PILOT STATED HE BECAME DISORIENTED WHICH RESULTED IN AN UNUSUAL ATTITUDE, CAUSING HIM TO STRIKE THE GROUND.

## The NTSB's investigation of this event (1)

From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

- [NTSB LAX98LA114](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/LAX98LA114), Mar 14, 1998: Socata TBM 700 (N345RD), Truckee, CA, destroyed. Probable cause: The failure of the pilot to maintain control of the aircraft due to spatial disorientation. A factor was the dark night.

From the FAA Accident/Incident Data System. Reports are matched to registry aircraft 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. For accidents, the NTSB's own investigation is the fuller record.

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