- Date
- August 29, 1987, 17:00 local (Aug 30, 1987, 00:00 UTC)
- Place
- Missing Acft, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N65797Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Status
- Completed · report August 31, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 25431
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 pilot told family and friends that he was going to fly along the coast and return at night. He did not return. The civil air patrol searched for the aircraft and pilot for several days without success. The flight originated at van nuys airport, van nuys, California, on August 29, 1987, at 1700 PDT. The aircraft is presumed to be destroyed and the pilot fatally injured.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N65797
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275893
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-02, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- Unknown
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Green Hornets Aviation
- Registered owner
- Harold J. Margolis
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 11, 1987
- Departed
- VNY · Van Nuys, 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
- 40
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 2,355 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Wind
- 300° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Observed at
- VNY