- Date
- January 21, 1991, 19:36 local (Jan 22, 1991, 03:36 UTC)
- Place
- Sacramento, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N96306Cessna 172P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report January 25, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910121000799A
- Case key
- 27097
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 flight's inadvertant encounter with wake turbulence.
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 accident site is about 3 miles south of the Sacramento airport near the extended centerline for runway 34L. The TRACON tracked the accident aircraft as it penetrated the arsa at 1300 feet MSL on a nw bound heading. The aircraft was observed to turn west bound as it descended to 800 ft MSL and cross the extended runway center line behind an arriving American airlines MD80. The Cessna was observed on radar to cross the flight path of the MD80 1 mile behind and 100 ft lower than the transport before it abruptly disappeared from the radar. Controllers on duty in the ATCT said they saw the lights of the Cessna pass behind and just below the MD80, then it abruptly descended toward the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N96306
- Reported as
- Cessna 172P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17276055
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Patterson Aircraft Co.
- Registered owner
- Patterson Aircraft Co.
- Last inspection
- Unknown · January 2, 2000
- Destination
- RBL · Red Bluff, CA
- Flight plan
- VFR
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, Foreign
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 470 total · 240 in this make and model · 187 as pilot in command · 68 in the last 90 days · 28 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 330° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Observed at
- SMF, 3 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.