- Date
- October 22, 1983, 14:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Wrightwood, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N717MDDeley Starduster SA-100
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19831022054949A
- Case key
- 23895
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 acft crashed in mountainous terrain in VMC weather. There is no record of radio communications with the acft on the day of the accident. The acft impacted a 30 degree upslope in a 25 degree nose down wings level attitude. Two witnesses said they observed the acft flying in a southeasterly direction. They said the engine began to sputter and cut out and the acft began a left turn as if to reverse course. The mountains appeared higher than the acft at this time. The witnesses said they did not see the actual ground impact but saw dirt fly up in the air. They ran to the area and found the wreckage. The fuel tank and fuel line were broken but a county sheriff's deputy reported seeing and smelling fuel leaking from the fuel tank.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N717MD
- Reported as
- Deley Starduster SA-100
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1
- Engine
- Lycoming O-290-G, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Tony R. Dressel
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 310 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- VCV, 17 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.