- Date
- March 16, 1991, 01:43 local (09:43 UTC)
- Place
- San Diego, CA
- Injuries
- 10 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N831LCHawker Siddeley DH.125-1A/522
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report September 11, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910316005479A
- Case key
- 26986
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
Improper planning/decision by the pilot, the pilot's failure to maintain proper altitude and clearance over mountainous terrain, and the copilot's failure to adequately monitor the progress of the flight. Factors related to the accident were: insufficient terrain information provided by the flight service specialist during the preflight briefing after the pilot inquired about a low altitude departure, darkness, mountainous terrain, both pilot's lack of familiarity with the geographical area, and the copilot's lack of familiarity with the aircraft.
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
After flying psnl of entertainment group to lindbergh fld, acft was psnd to nrby brown fld, since late dep was planned after noise curfew was in effect at lindbergh. Plt talked with fss specialist (splst) 3 times bfr tkof. He rprtd he did not have inst dep proc fm arpt. Splst read dep proc on phone. On last call to fss, plt said he planned to dep VFR twd NE & obtain IFR clnc after airborne. (This rte was twd mts.) Drg call, plt expressed concern abt remaining clr of tca & inquired abt staying blo 3000'. Splst agreed with plts concerns, but after acdnt, splst said he thought plt was referring to 3000' AGL, rather than 3000' MSL. Plt had filed to tkof at midnight, but didn't get airborne until 0141 PST. Since flt was ovr 1.5 hrs late, IFR flt plan had 'clocked out.' As ctlr was reentering flt plan in computer, acft hit rising trrn nr top of mtn, abt 8 mi NE of arpt at elev of abt 3300'. No deficiencies were fnd with acft or its engs. Coplt had no type rating for this acft, tho he rprtdly had made 3 tkofs & lndgs in hawker-siddeley dh.125.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N831LC
- Reported as
- Hawker Siddeley DH.125-1A/522 (DH.125-1A/)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 25095
- Engine
- Rolls-Royce VIPER 522, 3,330 lbs thrust, turbo jet
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Prestige Tours, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Duncan A/C Sales Florida,Inc
- Last inspection
- Unknown · January 2, 2000
- Destination
- AMA · Amarillo, TX
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- SDM · Brown Field Muni, runway 8, 7,999 × 200 ft, asphalt
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
- 43
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 15,000 total · 150 in this make and model · 14,000 as pilot in command
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.