- Date
- February 4, 1989, 10:45 local (18:45 UTC)
- Place
- Santa Ynez, CA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N98564Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 12, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890204002079A
- Case key
- 26333
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 failure of the pilot to obtain an adequate preflight weather briefing or to obtain inflight weather advisory information, and the failure of the pilot to maintain flying speed while descending in a downdraft.
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 cross country flight, in IMC, the airplane suddenly began to descend at 2000 fpm. The pilot reported that he pulled back on the yoke until the airplane stalled, then pushed forward on the yoke to regain airspeed. The pilot repeated this procedure three times with the airplane still descending in an attempt to fly out of the downdraft condition. During the fourth attempt, the airplane entered a spin. The pilot was able to regain control aprx 200 ft AGL. At this time the pilot could see the ground and initiated a forced landing. During the landing roll in an open field, the airplane collided with rough terrain. The pilot had obtained a limited weather briefing from the automated weather answering service.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N98564
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17276310
- Airframe hours
- 1,651
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Southwest Skyways, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Air Torrance Partnership 2
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 2, 1988
- Departed
- TOA · Torrance, CA
- Destination
- SBP · San Luis Obispo, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 46
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 936 total · 85 in this make and model · 752 as pilot in command · 41 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 50 knots
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 200 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 50 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.