- Date
- March 7, 1991, 23:30 local (Mar 8, 1991, 07:30 UTC)
- Place
- Palm Springs, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N711PEPiper PA-32R-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report July 13, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910307004959A
- Case key
- 26985
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
Incapacitation of the pilot due to inadequate sleep.
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 reported for work at 0200 hours and flew on a leg of a cargo flight from burbank, CA to phoenix, AZ. He went to a company apartment for crew rest arriving there at about 0600-0630. He got about 5 hours sleep, waking at about 1200 hours. He flew the return leg of the operation, taking off at 2055 hours. At 2230 hours, after maintaining a constant airspeed, heading, and altitude, he collided with a mountain. The mountain was about 10 nautical miles south of his usual course. No evidence could be found to indicate the pilot attempted to avoid colliding with the mountain. The aircraft and all components were examined, with no deficiencies being noted. Another pilot at the company apartment reported that a box of 'dimetapp' decongestion pills were on the pilot's shaving kit and that two pills were missing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N711PE
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32R-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-7680292
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1G50, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Wings Express, Inc
- Last inspection
- Unknown · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- PHX · Phoenix, AZ
- Destination
- BUR · Burbank, 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
- 23
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 2,315 total · 228 in this make and model · 2,273 as pilot in command · 228 in the last 90 days · 58 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.