- Date
- December 26, 1986, 19:15 local (Dec 27, 1986, 03:15 UTC)
- Place
- Gorman, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N50UPiper PA-28R-201
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 25, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19861226086019A
- Case key
- 25366
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 aircraft descended into mountainous terrain during a night cross-country flight. The surviving pilot stated that he was attending to paperwork and when he looked up he turned on the landing light in time to see trees just prior to impact. He further stated that the right seat pilot was flying the aircraft at 8,500 feet when he last noticed. The accident occurred at an elevation of 6,500 feet.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N50U
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28R-201
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28R-7737092
- Airframe hours
- 4,171
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-C1C6, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Gold Coast Air, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Hartman Equities, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 18, 1986 · 244 hours before
- Departed
- HHR · Hawthorne, CA
- Destination
- BFL · Bakerfield, 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
- 34
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,080 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.