Cessna 140 N90168
7 October 2002 · Avalon, California, United States · Serious injuries
Summary
On 7 October 2002 at about 21:50 local time, a Cessna 140 registered N90168, operated by Dean Sibley, was involved in an accident near Avalon, California, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.
The record
- Date
- at 21:50
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- Avalon, California, United States
- Coordinates
- 33.2500, -118.5000
- Aircraft
- Cessna 140
- Registration
- N90168
- Category
- Airplane
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Dean Sibley
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Other Work Use
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- El Monte → Corona
- Aircraft damage
- Destroyed
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- LAX03LA003
People
1 person was seriously injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain sufficient altitude while maneuvering at low altitude. Factors were the pilot's fatigue and the distraction of trying to drop a message onto a boat.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The pilot was spotting fish for a boat and lost radio communication. In an attempt to reestablish contact, he attempted a series of low altitude passes. A box pattern was set up, and several attempts to communicate were made without success. The pilot decided to try to drop a message into the boat. The pilot said that he was distracted by the task and fatigued by the nearly 3-hour flight and did not maintain sufficient altitude. When he realized that a collision with the water was imminent, he added power and pulled back on the control yoke but was unable to avoid contact with the ocean surface. He stated that prior to impact, all controls were functioning and responsive and that the engine was operating smoothly and gave no indication of a malfunction. The only anomaly that the pilot could recall was that the engine did not seem to respond after he added power seconds before impact. Due to the low altitude the pilot did not have time to send out a distress call or troubleshoot the engine's lack of response.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other Cessna 140 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Jul 2002 | Cessna 140 | Cook, Minnesota, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 22 Apr 2002 | Cessna 140 | Powderly, Texas, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
| 8 Nov 2001 | Cessna 140 | Nephi, Utah, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
| 8 Mar 2001 | Cessna 140 | San Jose, California, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 24 Aug 2003 | Cessna 140 | Edwardsburg, Michigan, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |
| 9 May 2003 | Cessna 140 | Suffolk, Virginia, United States | - | No injuries | - |
All 1,576 records for this type
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Jul 2002 | Ayres S2R-T34 | Firebaugh, California, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 13 Nov 2002 | Beechcraft A36TC | San Andreas, California, United States | - | Fatal | 2 |
| 5 May 2002 | Sierra RAF 2000 GTX-SE | Lompoc, California, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 15 Mar 2002 | Trenti RV-4 | Jacumba, California, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |
| 23 Feb 2002 | Thunder and Colt COLT 120 A | Moreno Valley, California, United States | - | Serious injuries | - |
| 21 Sep 2002 | Pzl-Bielsko SZD-42-2 JANTAR | Hemet, California, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |