Cessna 170B N2924D

Summary

On 28 June 2006 at about 10:35 local time, a Cessna 170B registered N2924D was involved in an accident near Vacaville, California, United States. 4 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

28 June 2006 at 10:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Vacaville, California, United States

Nearest airport

Nut Tree (VCB)

Coordinates

38.3839, -121.9708

Aircraft

Cessna 170B

Registration

N2924D

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Vacaville → Watsonville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

LAX06CA219

1 person had minor injuries.

the pilot's failure to maintain directional control. A contributing factor was pilot fatigue.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane veered off the side of the runway and ground looped. The pilot flew 2.7 hours from Watsonville to Little River for fuel, and then to Ukiah where he and his family ate dinner and spent the night. They departed Ukiah at 0800, and flew to Brookings, Oregon, for fuel. They then flew to North Bend where they refueled and added oil to the airplane, ate lunch, and shopped. At 1400, they departed North Bend, flew up the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge, and landed at Astoria, Oregon, for fuel and coffee. They departed Astoria and flew to Myrtle Creek, arriving there about 2015. The pilot's family exited the airplane, and he performed three full-stop solo landings for night currency. The family boarded and they proceeded to Crescent City, California, where the airplane was refueled. They departed Crescent City airport with full fuel and flew to the Nut Tree Airport, Vacaville, California. The Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) for Vacaville reported the winds to be calm, and the pilot landed on runway 20 without incident. The pilot refueled the airplane at idle power because he had experienced difficulty in starting the engine in Crescent City. He then taxied to runway 2 for takeoff. He raised the tail of the airplane at a lower airspeed than normal. The airplane yawed to the left and the pilot applied full right rudder. The airplane veered off the left side of the runway and bounced hard on a dirt berm. It spun around 180 degrees before coming to rest beside the runway. After exiting the airplane, the pilot noticed a steady 1- to 2-knot wind from 200 degrees. The pilot stated that the airplane and engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions during the flight. The wind conditions at Vacaville, at 0353, were reported to be from 200 degrees at 5 knots. The pilot flew a total of 17.4 hours in 2 days with little sleep. On the day of the accident, the pilot had been awake about 21 hours and had flown 15 hours.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.