- Date
- February 13, 1982, 16:07 local (Feb 14, 1982, 00:07 UTC)
- Place
- Near Los Banos, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N1433JRockwell 112A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report February 13, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820213004049A
- Case key
- 71892
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During a preflight briefing, the pilot was advised that the mountains were obscured by clouds, the outlook was for marginal VFR ceilings, and the weather conditions in northern California were deteriorating faster than forcasted. The pilot took off at 1333 PST without filing a flight plan. Later, the aircraft was observed proceeding along a highway at about 100 ft AGL. A witness reported that after the aircraft passed above him, it made a 180 deg turn. The plane then flew into a box canyon area, adjacent to the highway. After entering the box canyon, the aircraft was in a left turn when it crashed into the side of an upward sloping hill about 50 ft below and adjacent to the highway. The witness stated that the pass (west of the crash site) was obscured with clouds and that the prevailing overcast was about 200 ft AGL. The sounds from the engine were reported as normal.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1433J
- Reported as
- Rockwell 112A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 433
- Airframe hours
- 1,053
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-C1D6, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Douglas B. Scott, Jr.
- Registered owner
- James J. Butler, Jr.
- Departed
- C · Chino, CA
- Destination
- C · San Jose, CA
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 46
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 562 total · 195 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 200 ft
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.