- Date
- October 27, 1985, 12:54 local (20:54 UTC)
- Place
- Seal Beach, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7547FChampion 7ECA
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19851027053989A
- Case key
- 24877
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
Based upon prearranged plans, the plt & pax flew over the water for the purpose of photographing friends of theirs in sail boats. The plt rolled his acft into a medium bank & circled over the specified boat while his pax commenced taking photos. The plt, distracted by the sailboat, failed to be attentive to his acft's altitude & he descended until colliding with the water. The acft quickly sank & although the rear seated PIC was able to extricate himself, the front seated pax's head struck the instrument panel & he drowned.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7547F
- Reported as
- Champion 7ECA
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 729-70
- Airframe hours
- 2,977
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C1, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Charles E. Mann Enterprises
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Aerobatic
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 7, 1985 · 18 hours before
- Departed
- CPM · Compton, CA
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
- 56
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 379 total · 295 in this make and model · 295 as pilot in command · 17 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 225° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.