Cessna 310N N4178Q

Summary

On 5 November 1987 at about 06:40 local time, a Cessna 310N registered N4178Q, operated by Cascade Flight School, was involved in an accident near Bellingham, Washington, United States. 4 people were on board and 4 died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

5 November 1987 at 06:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Bellingham, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Bellingham Intl (BLI)

Coordinates

48.7307, -122.4803

Aircraft

Cessna 310N

Registration

N4178Q

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Cascade Flight School

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tacoma → Bellingham

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Bright

NTSB number

SEA88MA015

4 people died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

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.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.