19980919025399A

Acft was fueled and washed and then pilot said he was going to fly it to dry it off. The acft subsequently crashed under unknown circumstances. (-23) on September 18, 1998, at approximately 10:40 p.m. PDT, N486W, a Beech debonair model BE-35-B33 crashed in hilly terrain 15 miles south east of Reid Hillview airport (rhv), near anderson lake, 3 miles north east of morgan hill, CA. N486W impacted the ground at a high rate of speed with power on and a pitch down attitude of approximately 40 degrees and a left bank of approximately 20 degrees on a magnetic heading of 0.015 degrees. The aircraft was totally demolished and the pilot and passenger were fatally injured. N486W had no communications with ATC during this flight and no flight plan was filed, visual meteorological conditions existed furing this period. (.19)on September 20, 1998, about 0200 hours pacific daylight time, a Beech 35-B33, N486W, descended into hilly terrain in San Jose, California. The aircraft was destroyed on impact and a postcrash fire resulted. The pilot and his passenger received fatal injuries. The aircraft was being operated as a personal flight by the pilot/owner when the accident occurred. The flight originated from the Reid-Hillview Of Santa Clara county airport, San Jose, after 2330 on September 19, 1998. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. A witness who was camping about 0.25 miles from the crash site reported hearing the sound of an aircraft flying overhead from south to north. He stated that the he had gone to bed about 2200 that night and was awakened by loud sustained engine sounds which he described as "like a kamikaze in a dive." The aircraft sounds terminated after a few seconds into what the witness described as the sound of "2 cars hitting each other." He did not recall hearing any other sounds following the impact noise and he went back to sleep. He also said that he awoke during the night and looked at his watch. At that time it was 0200, however, he was not certain if it was the same time as he heard the aircraft. He said that he did not investigate the noise at the time because he was sleepy and was not entirely certain that he had heard what he thought he had. About 1500 on September 20, 1998, another camper from this group reported seeing a column of smoke about 0.25 miles north of their campsite. As he was going to notify fire officials, he told his friends whom then proceeded toward the source of the smoke. Upon their arrival they discovered that an aircraft had crashed as was still smoldering. (.4)after washing the airplane, the pilot took off for a short night flight to dry it. Family members reported that the pilot's habit was to do a 15- to 20-minute flight after washing the airplane. A witness near the accident site saw the airplane's nose pointed downward and its red and green position lights spiraling around as it descended. Another witness located closer to the impact location heard loud sustained engine sounds 'like a kamikaze in a dive.' The airplane collided with trees and hilly terrain and the extensively fragmented wreckage was spread over a 100- by 200-foot debris field. The aircraft sounds terminated after a few seconds with the sound of '2 cars hitting each other.' The pilot's last reported flight review was conducted in a helicopter. The last pilot logbook entry was dated may 28, 1997, the date of the last flight review. According to the aircraft logbook, the pilot would have averaged about 1.8 flight hours per month in the ai rplane during the past 11.5 months. Weather observations reported clear skies with no visibility restrictions. There was no moon illumination. The only ground reference lights were from the city, which was located north and west of the accident site. No preimpact failures or malfunctions were found during the wreckage examination.