Beechcraft A36TC N333AU

Summary

On 15 March 1986 at about 21:40 local time, a Beechcraft A36TC registered N333AU was involved in an accident near Woodfords, California, United States. 3 people were on board and 3 died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

15 March 1986 at 21:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Woodfords, California, United States

Coordinates

38.7290, -119.8403

Aircraft

Beechcraft A36TC

Registration

N333AU

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Seattle → Oxnard

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX86FA140

3 people died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE WX DETERIORATED WHILE THE ACFT WAS CRUISING IN IMC AT 17,000 FT. MODERATE TURBULENCE & ICING CONDITIONS IN THE LAYERED CLOUDS WERE REPORTED BY OTHER NEARBY FLYING ACFT. THE PLT INFORMED ARTCC THAT HE 'LOST THE AUTOPILOT,' & THE ACFT'S COURSE BEGAN CHANGING RADICALLY. A GROUND BASED WITNESS DESCRIBED THE APPROACHING ACFT'S NOISE AS BEING SIMILAR TO THE 'SCREAMING' PRODUCED BY AN ACFT IN A POWER DIVE. THE SURFACE VISIBILITY WAS RESTRICTED BY SNOW TO BETWEEN 200 FT - 1/4 MI. CONTROL OF THE ACFT WAS LOST AND AN INFLIGHT BREAKUP OCCURRED. THE WRECKAGE WAS FOUND DISTRIBUTED OVER A 1/8 BY 3/4 MILE AREA. THE PRIMARY AIRFRAME FAILURE OCCURRED ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE WING SPAR CARRY THROUGH STRUCTURE. THE STRUCTURE BROKE IN AN UPWARD (POSITIVE) DIRECTION. NO EVIDENCE FOR THE REPORTED LOSS OF THE AUTOPILOT OR WITH THE RELATED FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM WAS FOUND. THE ACFT WAS NEITHER CERTIFICATED NOT EQUIPPED FOR FLIGHT INTO ICING CONDITIONS.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.