- Date
- June 20, 1982, 22:40 local (Jun 21, 1982, 05:40 UTC)
- Place
- Granada Hills, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N738GFCessna 172
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report June 20, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820620070099A
- Case key
- 70865
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
The student pilot departed van nuys, CA at about 1530 PDT on a round-robin, cross-country flight to turlock, CA. It was a combination personal and training flight. His instructor pilot (CFI) had verbally approved the flight, but did not endorse the student's logbook. The student arrived at turlock at about 1830 PDT. After refueling the plane and having dinner with some friends, he departed on the return flight at about 2000 PDT. After passing newhall pass, about 15 mi north of van nuys airport, he observed an overcast cloud condition; however, he could see the valley lights through the overcast. He radioed burbank approach control for assistance. He stated he was not sure of his position. Burbank was unable to radar identify the plane at low altitude. The student did not attempt to proceed to an alternate where VFR conditions existed (as previously instructed by his CFI). He tried continuing thru the overcast and subsequently crashed on a 20 deg rising slope on a westerly heading, in about a 15 deg nose up attitude.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N738GF
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17269961
- Airframe hours
- 2,327
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Konski Aviation
- Registered owner
- Aircraft Investors
- Departed
- C · Turlock, CA
- Destination
- C · Vannuys, 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
- 29
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 35 total · 13 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 150° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Temperature
- 136 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.