- Date
- April 10, 1985, 20:25 local (Apr 11, 1985, 04:25 UTC)
- Place
- Petaluma, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N140MCCessna 140
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850410049969A
- Case key
- 24487
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 ATP plt initiated a short x-country flt at night in an acft with no attitude gyro instruments. Just before the acft crashed, witnesses heard the acft. They reported that the eng sounded like the plt was doing stunts or sharp turns. They said they could not see the acft because of the fog or cloud cover at about 600 ft. suddenly they saw a light that immediately went toward the ground. At about that same time, they heard the eng whine as if the acft was in a dive. The light disappeared & they heard a thud. The acft was located where it had crashed in a pond. During an exam of the wreckage no preimpact failure or malfunction of the acft or eng was found. The acft was equipped with a needle ball, airspeed indicator, altimeter & magnetic compass.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N140MC
- Reported as
- Cessna 140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12373
- Airframe hours
- 3,612
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jerry Stergoiu
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 1, 1984 · 61 hours before
- Departed
- HWD · Hayward, CA
- Destination
- STS · Santa Rosa, CA
- Airport
- 069 · Petaluma Sky Ranch
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
- 47
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 8,202 total · 6,833 as pilot in command · 263 in the last 90 days · 95 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 260° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 600 ft overcast
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- APC, 16 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.