- Date
- June 9, 1991, 18:40 local (Jun 10, 1991, 01:40 UTC)
- Place
- Eureka, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3046YCessna 182E
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 22, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910609021319A
- Case key
- 27232
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 non-instrument rated pilot's inadvertent flight into IMC conditions. The pilot's lack of total experience, his disregard to the preflight meteorological briefing he received, low ceilings, fog, and the mountainous terrain over which the flight was conducted 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
After filing a flight plan under visual flight rules and receiving a weather briefing that recommended that flight under visual flight rules not be conducted to his proposed destination, the non-instrument rated private pilot took off from an uncontrolled airport without opening his flight plan. When the passenger did not report for work the following day her employer reported she and the pilot missing. Later in the day a coast guard helicopter reported that an ELT was transmitting in the vicinity of the airport. A ground party found the aircraft's wreckage strewn over tree covered mountainous terrain. Low ceilings and fog existed in the area at the time.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3046Y
- Reported as
- Cessna 182E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18254046
- Airframe hours
- 4,275
- Engine
- Continental O-470-R, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Wm. Lennox & L. Holden
- Registered owner
- Wm. Lennox & L. Holden
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 6, 1991 · 60 hours before
- Departed
- 2Q3 · Woodland, 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
- 38
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 93 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- Wind
- 310° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ACV, 30 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.