- Date
- February 15, 1991, 18:50 local (Feb 16, 1991, 02:50 UTC)
- Place
- Kyburz, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Uncontrolled descent
- Aircraft
- N9448YCessna T210N
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report July 13, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910215002779A
- Case key
- 26981
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 attempt to conduct his visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions and the loss of aircraft control by becoming spatial disoriented. The low ceilings and the dark night that existed in the area were factors in the accident.
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 non-instrument rated pilot took off on a night flight to return to his home under visual flight rules without obtaining a weather briefing or filing a flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions existed along the route at the time. When the aircraft failed to arrive at its destination the pilot's family reported him overdue. An aerial search along the aircraft's assumed flight route was unsuccessful until an ntap of the aircraft's radar track was obtained from faa's air traffic control center. The search aircraft, using the ntap as a guide, found the aircraft's wreckage in mountainous terrain at the end of the radar plot.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9448Y
- Reported as
- Cessna T210N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 21064510
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-R, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- South Tahoe Const. Co.
- Registered owner
- South Tahoe Const. Co.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- PVF · Placerville, CA
- Destination
- 043 · Yerington, NV
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
- 54
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 2,550 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TVL, 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.