- Date
- March 15, 1986, 13:40 local (21:40 UTC)
- Place
- Woodfords, CA
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N333AUBeech A36TC
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 3, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860315087199A
- Case key
- 24905
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 wx deteriorated while the acft was cruising in IMC at 17,000 ft. moderate turbulence & icing conditions in the layered clouds were reported by other nearby flying acft. The plt informed ARTCC that he 'lost the autopilot,' & the acft's course began changing radically. A ground based witness described the approaching acft's noise as being similar to the 'screaming' produced by an acft in a power dive. The surface visibility was restricted by snow to between 200 ft - 1/4 mi. Control of the acft was lost and an inflight breakup occurred. The wreckage was found distributed over a 1/8 by 3/4 mile area. The primary airframe failure occurred on the left side of the wing spar carry through structure. The structure broke in an upward (positive) direction. No evidence for the reported loss of the autopilot or with the related flight control system was found. The acft was neither certificated not equipped for flight into icing conditions.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N333AU
- Reported as
- Beech A36TC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- EA-198
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-UB, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Aurich, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 21, 1985 · 21 hours before
- Departed
- BFI · Seattle, WA
- Destination
- OXR · Oxnard, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 2,310 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 10 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 800 ft
- Temperature
- 28 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TVL, 9 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.