North American T-28C N128BJ

Summary

On 4 February 1999 at about 22:40 local time, a North American T-28C registered N128BJ was involved in an accident near Joshua Tree, 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.

Date

4 February 1999 at 22:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Joshua Tree, California, United States

Coordinates

34.1506, -116.2702

Aircraft

North American T-28C

Registration

N128BJ

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Van Nuys → Thermal

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

Unk

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX99FA090

1 person died.

The pilot's decision to attempt flight into an area of known adverse weather and the subsequent inadvertent VFR flight into IFR conditions resulting in an in-flight collision with mountainous terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot of the lead aircraft in the two-aircraft formation received a preflight weather briefing that included an AIRMET for mountain obscuration throughout the intended area of flight. The area forecast was for broken ceilings at 1,500 to 2,500 feet and a second broken layer at 3,000 to 5,000 feet. When the aircraft did not arrive at their destination, a search was initiated and the two airplanes were found on a mountain slope at 5,300 feet msl. The lead aircraft impacted the slope about 250 feet below a ridgeline. The wingman impacted on the same slope approximately 220 feet further up the slope and offset 30 feet to the right. Park service rangers reported that weather near the accident site at the time consisted of overcast clouds with the tops of the mountains intermittently obscured in clouds, snow, and light rain. Scattered clouds locally obscured lower terrain. The nearest weather reporting point, 17 miles distant, reported an overcast cloud layer at 5,300 feet msl.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.