LAX85FA156

The student plt took off on a dark night in marginal wx conditions with 2 passengers occupying the only passenger seat. About 17 min later, the acft was observed in a low pass over a pier at Newport Beach, CA, flying toward the open ocean. After crossing over the pier area, the acft entered a turn, descended into the ocean, crashed & sank in about 40 ft of water. Both passengers were found in the acft. The plt's body was found on 3/21/85 about 4 mi south of the accident site. No preimpact part failure or malfunction was found during the investigation. A witness reported that the eng sounded fine prior to impact. Toxicology checks of the plt revealed he had a blood/alcohol level of 0.15%, brain tissue had 0.2 micrograms/gram of cocaine, & liver tissue had 0.4 micrograms/gram of benzoylecgonine. However, theamount of alcohol due to putrefaction was not verified. The passengers were found in the acft about 6 hrs after the accident. They tested positive for alcohol, cocaine & benzoylecgonine. Acft estd to be 124 lbs ovr its max gross wt lmt.