- Date
- December 15, 1987, 13:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lakeport, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N400LAPiper PA-32R-300
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 16, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19871215070329A
- Case key
- 40712
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
Although weather conditions were marginally VFR at his departure point, and the pilot had access to a vehicle which could have been used to drive to his dest, he departed novato, CA, enroute to Lakeport, CA, without obtaining a wx briefing nor filing a flt plan. Shortly aft departure and again nearing his dest he received inflt wx info fm ukiah fss and acknowledged the reported bad wx in the vic of his route of flt. A witness near the accd site reported snow, strong winds, low ceilings, and worsening conditions at the time of the accd. The acft collided with a shallow ridge in low mountainous terrain while in an upright, slightly descending right wing down attitude. The elevation of the ground impact site was approximately 2450 feet and the cloud bases were reported at ukiah as approximately 2600 feet MSL near the time of the accd.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N400LA
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32R-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R7780507
- Airframe hours
- 2,781
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1G5D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Gilbert D. Evans
- Registered owner
- Gilbert D Evans
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 15, 1987 · 81 hours before
- Departed
- O56 · Novato, CA
- Destination
- 1O2 · Lakeport, 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
- 56
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,000 total · 1,200 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.