LAX00FA209

While on base leg turning to final approach at the desert airport, the instructional flight was authorized by the air traffic control tower to perform s-turns for spacing due to another aircraft stopped in position on the runway and starting the takeoff roll. Witnesses observed the aircraft's wings rock steeply right and left and then the aircraft dove nose-first to the ground from about 250 feet agl. The recently certificated flight instructor had worked as an instructor for about 1 month and had 363 total flight hours. The flight was the student's first fixed-wing aircraft instructional flight, although he had about 60 hours experience in helicopters and the foreign equivalent of a private pilot certificate. Witnesses said that surface wind varies greatly in the area near the accident site. Two witnesses, one located 1/2 block south of the accident site and the other located two blocks east of the accident site, reported the surface wind was calm. A third witness, located two blocks north of the accident site, reported the wind was blowing about 40 knots. This third witness reported that when she arrived at the accident site, soon after it happened, and got out of her car, the wind blew her hat off and across the street. Ten minutes later the wind stopped and it became completely still. At the airport, about 1 mile southeast of the accident location, the surface wind remained less than 12 knots in the period from 2 hours before the accident to about 2 hours after it. Several pilots reported that wind shear is common in the area due to terrain induced eddies from nearby mountains. The airport did not have a low-level wind shear alert system. One witness reported the engine was 'sputtering' and another said it was silent; however, at the accident site the propeller exhibited deep leading edge damage, torsional twisting, and chordwise striations on the front face. No mechanical anomalies were found.

History of flight

On May 31, 2000, at 1209 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 152, N5538M, was destroyed when the aircraft dove to the ground from approximately 300 feet agl while on left base leg for landing on runway 13R at the Palm Springs International Airport, Palm Springs, California. The commercial certificated flight instructor and the student pilot were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the instructional flight, which was operated under 14 CFR Part 91 by The Flight School At Palm Springs. The flight departed from Thermal Airport about 1150. No flight plan was filed.

According to recorded continuous data recording (CDR) radar data provided by the Palm Springs Air Traffic Control Tower, the aircraft departed Palm Springs at 1037 and performed some turning maneuvers, arriving in the area south of Thermal at 1126. The aircraft then proceeded to Thermal Airport where three touch-and-go landings were performed before proceeding to the area of Bermuda Dunes Airport. Without landing at Bermuda Dunes, the pilot contacted Palm Springs Terminal Radar Approach Control at 1157 for arrival sequencing back to Palm Springs. The flight was handed off to Palm Springs tower at 1202. The last six radar returns were recorded between 1209:05 and 1209:33 in the area about 1 mile north of Palm Springs airport. The decoded altitude was 800 feet msl and the course was approximately 220 degrees (airport elevation is 462 feet msl).

According to the supervisor at the Palm Springs Air Traffic Control Tower, when the aircraft was on base leg, the pilot was authorized to make s-turns for spacing on his landing approach due to another aircraft that was on the runway starting its takeoff. The accident aircraft was observed to start a left turn and then dive to the ground as it was on final approach.

Several witnesses reported observing the aircraft make an abrupt turn at 250 to 300 feet above ground level (agl) (some reported a left turn and some a right turn). The turn continued for 360 or 720 degrees rotation, then the nose dropped and the aircraft dove to the ground in a residential street.

One witness, who heard the aircraft from his residence about 1/2 block south of the accident site, reported that the engine was "sputtering" and then stopped entirely 1 or 2 seconds before it dove to the ground. The sound was "like it was running out of gas." He reported there was no wind. He added, "You remember that because this is the windy end of town."

Another witness observed the aircraft from 2 blocks east of the accident site. He said his attention was drawn to the aircraft because of its low altitude, which he estimated at 250 - 300 feet agl with no engine noise. He thought the position was normal for a landing aircraft but too low. As he watched the aircraft proceed on a northwest-bound heading, then did a 720-degree left turn, then the nose dropped, and the aircraft went straight down. He reported the wind at his location was calm but volunteered that the wind varies greatly in the area where the accident occurred.

Still another witness, who lives about 2 blocks north of the accident site, reported that the wind was blowing hard in the area of her residence on the morning of the accident. The wind was calm until about 0800 but then the wind came up and blew hard. She estimated 40 miles per hour. She was cutting her lawn and the wind was blowing the cuttings into her swimming pool. The wind was coming from the west out of the Banning Pass. At the time of the accident this witness was driving south on Farrell at Via Escuela, the first cross-street north of the accident site. Her Jeep didn't have air conditioning so she had the windows open. She heard the airplane approach from behind her on the left. Her attention was drawn to it because it sounded lower than normal. As it passed over her she thought it was lower and slower than normal. She estimated it was "half a block high." The engine sounded uneven but she said the wind in the desert does that. As she watched, the planes wings tilted to the left until they were perpendicular to the ground. Then the airplane rolled abruptly to the right until the wings were perpendicular the other direction, then it turned a full circle, and the nose went straight down and the airplane crashed. She got out of her car and called 911. As she got out of her car, the wind blew her hat off and blew it across the street into the yard of a house. About 10 minutes later, the wind stopped and it became completely still.

Personnel information

According to records provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the pilot was issued a flight instructor, airplane, single engine, land, certificate on April 4, 2000. FAA records show that the pilot was previously issued "Notice[s] of Disapproval of Application" for the flight instructor certificate on March 10, 2000, February 21, 2000, and January 3, 2000. According to the owner of The Flight School at Palm Springs, the pilot was hired May 1, 2000.

According to the flight instructor's logbook, he had 363 hours total flying time at the date of the accident. He had 248 hours on April 4, 2000, when the flight instructor certificate was issued and had no additional flying time until May 2, 2000. During the month of May the pilot flew 103.3 hours, of which 97.9 were logged as instruction given.

The pilot's girlfriend reported that they went out the night before and met the student who had arrived that day from Italy. The pilot slept from about 0030 to 0800 the next morning. He was well and healthy and was not taking any medications.

According to another flight instructor at The Flight School at Palm Springs, the student was an Italian citizen who had arrived in the United States the previous day for the purpose of receiving fixed wing flight training. The student reportedly had about 60 hours of helicopter flight time acquired from an aviation college in Italy. He held the Italian equivalent of a private pilot's certificate in rotorcraft.

Aircraft information

A flight instructor who flew the previous flight of the aircraft on the morning of the accident reported that flight, with a student, remained in the traffic pattern and consisted of four takeoffs and landings. It lasted 0.6 hours (hour meter time). The aircraft was full of fuel when they departed and was not refueled after their flight. He said there were no deferred maintenance items on the aircraft (squawks), and the run-up was normal with slight spark plug fouling on one magneto that they were able to burn off by leaning the mixture. The aircraft flew normally throughout the flight and the instruments remained in the normal range. During at least one landing they slowed the aircraft sufficiently that the stall warning horn sounded. He didn't recall the "inoperative" placard found in the wreckage but thinks it may have been on the clock. This aircraft was only used for VFR instruction and the clock was not required.

According to the aircraft logbooks, the last maintenance performed on the airplane was an annual inspection on April 13, 2000. The aircraft had flown 57 hours since the annual inspection and the engine had accumulated 102 hours since overhaul.

The flight instructor who flew the previous flight also reported observing the instructor and student involved in the accident do a detailed preflight examination of the aircraft since this was the student's first fixed wing aircraft flight.

According to the aircraft charge sheet found in the wreckage, at the start of the above, 0.6-hour flight, the recording tachometer read 5,727.27 hours and the hour meter read 2,901.9. At the end of the 0.6-hour flight, the hour meter read 2,902.5 hours and the recording tachometer read 5,727.64 hours. At the accident site, the hour meter read 2,904.4 hours and the tachometer read 5,729.26 hours. A weight and bal