- Date
- March 23, 1988, 07:45 local (15:45 UTC)
- Place
- Union City, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N26851Gulfstream American AA5A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 10, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880323006379A
- Case key
- 25968
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
During a pleasure flight, the airplane collided with a power line tower. The airplane was consumed by fire. The weather at the time of the accident was reported to be instrument meteorological conditions with low fog. The pilot did not file an instrument flight plan and was operating under VFR.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N26851
- Reported as
- Gulfstream American AA5A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- AA5A067
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2G, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Bergeson, Kent
- Registered owner
- Bergeson, Kent
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- PVF · Placerville, CA
- Destination
- PAO · Palo Alto, 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
- 50
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 605 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 3 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 600 ft broken
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HWD, 16 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.