- Date
- September 30, 1989, 12:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lancaster, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N6422MCessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 9, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890930037159A
- Case key
- 26255
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 decision to enter into IMC while flying under VFR. Factors contributing to accident were: low ceilings, poor planning and decisions, failure to obtain a preflight briefing and not performing a weather evaluation.
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 and his passenger took off for a maintenance test flight to conduct a VOR receiver check. His check point was over the airport of departure. The flight failed to return and was reported missing six hours after its takeoff. The wreckage was found eighteen hours later, impacted in the side of a mountain approximately 18 miles northwest of the departure airport. Weather reports for the time frame of the accident noted that the tops of the mountains were obscured by clouds.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6422M
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15284721
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 91
- Operator
- West Coast Air Center
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- WJF
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
- 37
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 2,495 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 18 knots
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- WJF, 18 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.