- Date
- October 26, 1988, 19:00 local (Oct 27, 1988, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- Redlands, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N79HWPiper PA31P-350
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report June 11, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19881026048239A
- Case key
- 26187
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's inadvertent selection of an inappropriate altitude for the attempted night special VFR circle to land maneuver. Contributing to the accident was the dark night, restricted visibilities and lack of ground reference lights. Also contributing to the accident was the pilot's limited total night experience.
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 arpt is next to norton afb. The weather on the dark moonless night was 1 mi vis in fog and haze. The plt completed an ILS to a low approach at norton and received a special VFR clearance to proceed to Redlands. The circling mda for norton is 1,700 ft MSL. Norton afb elev is 1,100 ft MSL, and the Redlands airport elev is 1,572 ft MSL. The circling mda for norton is 138 ft above the Redlands airport arpt elev. The recorded radar data showed that the flt descended to 1,800 ft on the ILS, then the mode c varied between 1,700 and 1,600 ft. the last radar return was about 1 mi from the Redlands arpt at 1,600 ft MSL. A witness on the airport saw the acft fly over runway 8 in a south to north direction, 'low and fast.' The witness heard the crash sounds immediately thereafter. Evidence at the accident site revealed the acft left wing contacted the ground in a 42 degree left bank in a slight nose down attitude. Few ground reference lights exist in the area and the plt had min ttl night time.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N79HW
- Reported as
- Piper PA31P-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31P-8414021
- Airframe hours
- 660
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-V2AD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Charlie Gill Enterprises, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 20, 1988 · 48 hours before
- Departed
- IMP · Imperial, CA
- Destination
- L12 · Redlands, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- L12 · Redlands Muni, runway 8, 4,500 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 43
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 550 total · 200 in this make and model · 410 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SBD, 4 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.