- Date
- September 20, 1983, 09:10 local (16:10 UTC)
- Place
- Palm Springs, CA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3636XAero Commander 100
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830920050129A
- Case key
- 23862
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
While en route, the plt encountered deteriorating wx. He was an instrument plt, but had chosen not to file & fly under IFR due to terrain, wx, low performance of the acft & lack of pitot heat. The plt noted a ceiling at 5500 ft MSL when he crossed banning pass. He saw dark clouds & heavy rain in the Palm Springs & bermuda dunes area. The mountains north of desert hot Springs were covered with clouds, so he tried to get thru yucca valley where the wx looked better. However, low ceilings & rain were encountered, so the plt made a 180 deg turn to return to riverside, CA. He soon encountered 'a fast westerly moving mass of clouds that went all the way to the ground.' Due to the speed of the storm, he was forced to land quickly & elected to land downwind on a road. However, overflew the road & landed in a rocky wash area, extensively damaging the acft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3636X
- Reported as
- Aero Commander 100
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 336
- Airframe hours
- 1,011
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Lake Ranch, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 2, 1983 · 42 hours before
- Departed
- RAL · Riverside, CA
- Destination
- P20 · Parker, AZ
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
- 30
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,825 total · 117 in this make and model · 1,651 as pilot in command · 23 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- Wind
- 90° at 10 knots
- Temperature
- 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ONT, 12 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.