- Date
- May 8, 1989, 18:05 local (May 9, 1989, 01:05 UTC)
- Place
- Dublin, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8078VPiper PA-28-181
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 25, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890509011199A
- Case key
- 26227
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 decided to continue VFR flight after encountering instrument meteorological conditions in an area of rising mountainous terrain. Factors in this accident were the pilots lack of experience and his failure to obtain a preflight weather briefing.
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 did not obtain a weather briefing prior to this cross country flight. The weather information available established that coastal stratus clouds with accompanying coastal hill mountain obscurement was forecast. According to the official weather reports and witness observations, the accident site was obscured in clouds at the time of the crash. The accident site is at the end of a long narrow valley near the top of a ridge line. At departure from hayward, the pilot originally asked for a straight out departure, which the local controller denied due to a noise abatement procedure. The pilot then accepted a right cross wind departure. The enterance to the narrow valley is in close proximity to a right cross wind departure path. At the time of the aircraft's departure, the airport weather conditions were ceiling 1,000 feet, visibility 10 miles. Six minutes after the flight departed, the airport went IFR with a 900 foot ceiling.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8078V
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-8090074
- Airframe hours
- 3,363
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Capitol Sky Park, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Bruce M. Douglass
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 25, 1989 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- HWD · Hayward, CA
- Destination
- SAC · Sacramento, 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
- 30
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 142 total · 31 in this make and model · 103 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HWD, 8 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.