- Date
- April 1, 1991, 21:00 local (Apr 2, 1991, 05:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lee Vining, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N1941YMooney M-20E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 27, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910401008209A
- Case key
- 27156
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 failure of the pilot to maintain adequate altitude to clear mountainous terrain. Contributing to the accident was pilot fatigue due to a lengthy cross country flight.
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 certificated private pilot was on a cross country flight that began at about 0830 hours and was planned to cover about 1,300 nautical miles. The pilot departed his last fuel stop at about 2000 hours where a witness reported that the pilot appeared fatigued. The route of flight was over high mountainous terrain that had a minimum flight elevation of 13,500 feet. An emergency locator transmitter signal was received at 0024 hours, located 105 miles west of the last departure airport. The airplane was located by search personnel at 11,000 feet and had impacted a mountain side in a remote area of deep snow. At the accident location, the airplane was about 1,000 feet below the mountain ridge line. The time and location of the accident placed the airplane in an area that did not have any ground or moon illumination.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1941Y
- Reported as
- Mooney M-20E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 248
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-AIA, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Alan D. Mc Donald
- Registered owner
- Alan D. Mc Donald
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- THP · Tonopah, NV
- Destination
- SCK · Stockton, 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
- 46
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 303 total · 154 in this make and model · 175 as pilot in command · 44 in the last 90 days · 21 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MCE, 70 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.