- Date
- May 5, 1999, 19:50 local (May 6, 1999, 02:50 UTC)
- Place
- San Diego, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N6034XBeech A36
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report January 18, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990505004619A
- Case key
- 46313
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 failure to maintain a visual lookout while taxiing resulting in the aircraft's colliding with a runway sign. Contributing factors were dusk light conditions, the sign, and the pilot's diverting his attention to aircraft instrumentation during taxi.
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 pilot landed at dusk and made a 90-degree turn off the runway onto a taxiway. Thereafter, while proceeding at less than 5 miles per hour, he again turned right, entered an oval area short of the desired taxiway, and collided with a runway sign. The pilot indicated to responding officials that the collision occurred while he was looking at instruments.
Factual narrative
On May 5, 1999, at 1950 hours Pacific daylight time, a Beech A36, N6034X, owned and operated by the pilot, collided with an airport sign after landing at the San Diego International Airport, San Diego, California. The airplane was substantially damaged, and the commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed for the flight that was performed under 14 CFR Part 91. The business flight originated from Riverside, California, about 1910.
Airport officials reported that after the pilot landed at dusk on runway 27, he made a 90-degree northbound turn at taxiway intersection C4. Thereafter, while proceeding at less than 5 miles per hour, he again turned right, entered an oval area short of the desired taxiway, and collided with a runway sign. The pilot indicated to responding officials that the collision occurred while he was looking at instruments.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6034X
- Reported as
- Beech A36
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- E-1477
- Airframe hours
- 4,931
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-BB, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Ralph E. Garner
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 22, 1999 · 56 hours before
- Departed
- RAL · Riverside, CA
- Destination
- SAN
- Airport
- SAN · San Diego-Lindbergh Field, runway 27, 9,400 × 200 ft, concrete
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
- 79
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,682 total · 4,261 in this make and model · 7,420 as pilot in command · 202 in the last 90 days · 31 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 270° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SAN
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.