- Date
- October 31, 1987, 13:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Desert Center, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N25MRBritten-Norman BN2A-26
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 3, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19871031072429A
- Case key
- 25797
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 plt was hired to ferry an islander from el paso, TX to santa paula, CA. He represented himself to the ferry company as being an experienced islander plt. No previous islander flt time was found in the pilot's logbook. It was the plt's 40th birthday & he was anxious to complete the flt. He neither filed flt plans nor had current charts. Approaching the chiriaco summit area along I-10 the terrain rose and a ground-based witness reported clds were low. The plt continued the westbnd flt. Evidence indicated an overstressed acft and an in-flt breakup.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N25MR
- Reported as
- Britten-Norman BN2A-26
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 881
- Airframe hours
- 1,119
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-E4C5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Ferry · Part 91
- Operator
- Southern Cross Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Onyx Aviation, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 19, 1987 · 7 hours before
- Departed
- El Paso, TX
- Destination
- Santa Paula, 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
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,000 total · 3 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.