Cessna 152 N25490

Summary

On 2 July 2008 at about 20:10 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N25490, operated by Raw Power Aviation, was involved in an accident near Piru, 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

2 July 2008 at 20:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Piru, California, United States

Coordinates

34.3842, -118.8142

Aircraft

Cessna 152

Registration

N25490

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Raw Power Aviation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Aerial Observation

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Los Angeles → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX08LA211

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed while maneuvering at low altitude, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was performing a pipeline patrol flight and was maneuvering the airplane at low altitude along an expansive dry riverbed that was in a canyon that was on average about 1-mile wide. The pipeline was buried on the south bank of the river, just below a hillside that defined the southern boundary of the canyon. While following the pipeline the pilot came across an area of recent construction digging that had exposed the pipeline. A witness observed the airplane at a slow airspeed and low altitude near the site of the digging when the left wing suddenly dropped and the airplane dove straight down into a small ravine below. The airplane came to rest about 460 feet from the base of a mountain range that comprised the south wall of a 7,500-foot-wide canyon. No evidence of mechanical malfunction or failure was found during a postaccident examination of the airplane and engine.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.