- Date
- September 29, 1990, 12:29 local (19:29 UTC)
- Place
- Lakeport, CA
- Injuries
- 8 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Other
- Aircraft
- N7250CLockheed PV-2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 26, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900929043259A
- Case key
- 26659
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-in-command's failure to maintain airspeed during a pull-up from a low pass. Factors which contributed to the accident were: the pilot's poor judgement in buzzing the seaplanes which resulted in insufficient altitude to recover from the stall, and the pilot's inexperience in the airplane.
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 airplane was observed making several low passes, with its smoke generators operating, over seaplanes anchored in a lake. The last pass was reportedly at an altitude less than 50 ft, and then the airplane was observed entering an abnormally steep climb, followed by a near vertical nose-down attitude to impact. A video tape shows that both propellers were turning. The pilot had received his multi-engine rating in a Beech 76 on 3/6/90, and his type rating in the airplane 3/28/90.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7250C
- Reported as
- Lockheed PV-2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 84061
- Engine
- P&W R2800-31, 2,000 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Lacey, Douglas M.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Special flight (Special)
- Departed
- STS · Santa Rosa, 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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 811 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.