- Date
- February 15, 1993, 19:45 local (Feb 16, 1993, 03:45 UTC)
- Place
- Avalon, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N7882RBeech E33
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report March 18, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930215002309A
- Case key
- 27824
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 pilot's alcoholic impairment of efficiency and judgement which resulted in his attempt to perform aerobatics at night in hilly terrain at an altitude inadequate for terrain clearance.
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
A witness said that he heard the engine 'revving and pulling up real hard.' He ran out on his porch and observed the airplane 'going straight up and did a loop.' The airplane came back down, and again went straight up in the sky. He noticed that the landing lights 'hit the cloud deck.' Another witness stated that he could see the silhouettes of all the mountain tops in the area by natural light. The pilot did not have a current medical or biennial flight review. The pilot's toxicological results were positive; 73 mg/dl of ethanol detected in the liver, and 180 mg/dl of ethanol detected in the kidney. A broken 1/2 gal plastic bottle of whiskey was found in the main wreckage. The pilot's driver's license had been suspended twice in 1992 for excessive alcohol levels.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7882R
- Reported as
- Beech E33
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- CD-1208
- Engine
- Continental IO-470-N, 225 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Edmond C. Long
- Registered owner
- Edmond C. Long
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 3, 1990
- Departed
- LGB · Long Beach, 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
- 52
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Expired
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 1,500 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 120° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,200 ft broken
- Temperature
- 50 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.