- Date
- March 8, 1982, 08:10 local (16:10 UTC)
- Place
- Captinteria, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7497JPiper PA-28R-180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report March 8, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820308002699A
- Case key
- 70129
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 pilot reported that he had some head congestion and had experienced ear discomfort on the first leg of the flight. He elected to fly the second leg of the flight in a canyon that he thought would allow passage through the mountains at low altitude. However, the selected canyon gradually narrowed and the terrain rose at a faster rate than the aircraft could climb. By the time he realized the situation, there was insufficient airspace to make a 180 degree turn. The aircraft brushed the tops of a few trees before crashing in the canyon. The elevation of the crash site was about 4000 ft MSL. The aircraft would have had to climb to above 5000 ft to get out of the canyon. Less then 100 lbs of cargo was on board.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7497J
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28R-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28R-308959
- Airframe hours
- 8,303
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Cal Air Charter
- Registered owner
- Cal Air Charter
- Departed
- OXR · Oxford, CA
- Destination
- SMX · Santa Maria, CA
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 35
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 3,810 total · 1,784 in this make and model · 3,650 as pilot in command · 274 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 260° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 18 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 6,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 122 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.