- Date
- November 4, 1987, 22:40 local (Nov 5, 1987, 06:40 UTC)
- Place
- Bellingham, WA
- Injuries
- 4 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N4178QCessna 310N
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report January 19, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19871104062249A
- Case key
- 40902
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
The acft was chartered to take university (wwu) psnl to an alumni dinner. While rtrng at ngt, the plt made a localizer only, ILS rwy 16 apch in marginal VFR conds. Drg the apch, radar svc was terminated & the plt was told to ctc bellinghamradio, but he did not lnd or ctc the facility. Radar data showed he contd southbound twd wwu & chgd the transponder codeto 1200 (VFR). Radar ctc was lost for aprx 1-1/2 min as the acft passed ovr the vcnty of wwu & 1 of the pax's home, thenradar ctc was reestablished. Witnesses in the area rprtd seeing a low flying acft at aprx that time. The acft then flew to the vcnty of svrl large refineries aprx 9 mi nnw of the arpt & radar ctc was lost again. When the acft did not land at the arpt, a search was started. It was fnd where it had hit 200' trees & crashed. No one saw the acdnt, but 2 personssaw an acft flying at low alt in that vcnty with the lndg lgt on. They also rprtd ptchy fog in the area. Subsequently, the acft turned to an easterly hdg bfr it crashed. No preimpact mech prblm was fnd that would have cause the acdnt.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4178Q
- Reported as
- Cessna 310N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 0078
- Airframe hours
- 3,012
- Engine
- Continental IO-470-VO, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Cascade Flight School
- Registered owner
- Flying School Of The Cascades
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 15, 1987 · 53 hours before
- Departed
- TIW · Tacoma, WA
- Destination
- Bellingham, WA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- BLI · Bellingham Intl, runway 16, 5,000 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 28
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- 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
- 1,631 total · 220 in this make and model · 1,358 as pilot in command · 44 in the last 90 days · 28 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 330° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BLI, 9 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.