20180822012079A

On 8/22/2018 at approximately 17:21 local time, the PIC ^/owner^ of N1682G a citabria (7KCAB) and a student sitting in the front seat, took off from gillespie field (see) to accomplish spin training. After takeoff from see, the fatal accident aircraft flew to the northeast for approximately 16:09 minutes before it crashed into a remote mountainous area of delsura, California killing both occupants. The weather on the day of the crash and the day after was VFR, and 10 miles visibility.

(The front seat pilot, a commercial pilot, will be referred to as "student", the back seat pilot, the owner of the aircraft and a commercial pilot and CFI, will be referred to as "PIC")

On 8/23/2018 the crash site was identified in a remote mountainous area by the san diego sheriff air unit. The crash site was at approximately 2650' feet of elevation. It required two sheriff helicopters and California division of forestry (cdf) crews to first cut a landing zone by the wreckage and then cut a path into the earth, for investigators to access the site. At approximately 15:00 local time FAA investigators were flown into the scene. NTSB did not arrive until 8/24/2018.

The crash site was heavily covered with small trees, scrub and a variety of other vegetation. The crash site presented a point of impact where the right wing tip/wing area, and right side engine compartment area and cabin impacted first in a nose low and right wing low attitude. Thereafter, the remainder of the aircraft and occupants appeared to have tumbled approximately 84' feet from the point of impact from west to east, where it came to rest. The left main landing gear was an additional 15-20' feet east of where the main wreckage came to rest.

The propeller was next to the main wreckage and intact (separated from engine) with mild deformation to one blade and moderate to the other. It had scoring on the leading edges, indicating a low-rotation low power setting.

Both fuel tanks were visible, one was still inside the left wing which separated from the aircraft, and the right fuel tank was visible at the main wreckage site. The right tank appeared to show signs of hydrostatic deformation (ruptured). The left tank appeared to have several holes (punctures) in it. There was no oder of fuel anywhere at the scene, however, it was 24 hours after the plane crashed prior to investigators being onscene and the temperatures were in the low 90'S during the previous day, and the rest of that week.

At the main wreckage site, a pilot ledger notebook was found. Inside were many pages documenting apparent training given to a variety of pilots by the PIC. It listed the student's name, date, hobbs out, hobbs in and total time of each flight. This book was entirely intact. The last entry had the front seat students name in it, the date of 8/22, and the hobbs out time of 1538.2. The hobbs meter at the crash site was found. The end hobbs read 1538.7; .5 total hobbs time, of which approximately 13-14 minutes were in actual flight (minus engine start, taxi, runup, t/o).

Both pilots bodies were inside the wreckage at the main site. The wreckage around the bodies was extremely crushed. The medical examiner was able to extricate them from the wreckage with tools. It was then determined that the student was in the front seat, and the PIC was in the back seat. Both had drivers licenses on their person identifying them. The entire scene was photographed both by FAA investigators, san diego medical examiners office, and also the san diego sheriff department as they were documenting a death case. Tox boxes were given directly to the medical examiners office personnel. (Cont. In block #43 this form)