Cessna 152 N49770
1 October 1998 · Avalon, California, United States · Fatal
Summary
On 1 October 1998 at about 01:35 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N49770, operated by Orange County Flight Center, was involved in an accident near Avalon, California, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.
The record
- Date
- at 01:35
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- Avalon, California, United States
- Coordinates
- 33.3809, -118.4498
- Aircraft
- Cessna 152
- Registration
- N49770
- Category
- Airplane
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Orange County Flight Center
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- Santa Ana → Unknown
- Aircraft damage
- Destroyed
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- LAX98FA312
People
1 person died.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate altitude/clearance. Contributing to the accident were the hilly and mountainous terrain and glare from the setting sun.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The pilot intended to complete a local flight around Santa Catalina Island. Friends indicated the pilot was starting an aerial photography business. One friend, a photographer, flew a previous photographic flight around the island with the pilot and stated they flew well below the level of the mountaintops. The airplane collided with upsloping terrain at an elevation of approximately 1,440 feet mean sea level (msl). The accident site was at the apex of a peak less than 1/2 mile east of the highest point, Silver Peak, 1,804 feet msl, on Santa Catalina Island's western peninsula. The shoreline (sea level) was less than a mile to the right of the flight path. The debris field was about 120 feet long on a magnetic heading of 315 degrees. This roughly paralleled the ridgeline in this area. There were no witnesses. The hour meter indicated 0.8 hours elapsed during the flight. The airplane was discovered the following morning by a Coast Guard helicopter investigating an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal. Sunset was at 1844. Inclination of the sun was 1.9, 1.0, and 0.1 degrees at 1830, 1835, and 1840 respectively. The sun's azimuth was 250.8, 251.5, and 252.2, respectively.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other Cessna 152 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1998 | Cessna 152 | Columbia, South Carolina, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 20 Feb 1998 | Cessna 152 | Norman, Oklahoma, United States | Airman Flight School | No injuries | - |
| 19 Nov 1998 | Cessna 152 | Orinda, California, United States | - | Serious injuries | - |
| 1 Aug 1998 | Cessna 152 | Culpeper, Virginia, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 24 Jun 1998 | Cessna 152 | Santa Ana, California, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |
| 1 Dec 1998 | Cessna 152 | Fort Worth, Texas, United States | Marco Caruso | No injuries | - |
All 3,030 records for this type
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Oct 1998 | Grumman TS-2A | Banning, California, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |
| 15 Aug 1998 | North American NAVION | Salinas, California, United States | - | Fatal | 2 |
| 21 Aug 1998 | Bell 206B | Salinas, California, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 21 Aug 1998 | Robinson R22B | Ramona, California, United States | Civic Helicopters | No injuries | - |
| 27 Aug 1998 | Aerospatiale SA316B | Porterville, California, United States | U.s. Dept. of the Interior | No injuries | - |
| 29 Jul 1998 | Cessna 150K | Yorba Linda, California, United States | - | No injuries | - |