Beechcraft 55 N4088A

Summary

On 20 January 1996 at about 05:47 local time, a Beechcraft 55 registered N4088A was involved in an accident near Cedarville, California, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 January 1996 at 05:47

Classification

Accident

Location

Cedarville, California, United States

Nearest airport

Cedarville (O59)

Coordinates

41.4810, -120.1402

Aircraft

Beechcraft 55

Registration

N4088A

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Everrett → North Las Vegas

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

Unk

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

LAX96FA096

2 people died.

the pilot's poor preflight planning by not obtaining a weather briefing and his inadvertent encounter with a mountain wave condition. The moonless dark night was a factor in this accident.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was operating on a VFR on top IFR clearance when he inadvertently encountered a mountain wave condition while flying in a dark moonless night. The radar data showed that the airplane began a 612 FPM descent for 1,000 feet and then abruptly climbed 300 feet before the airplane's transponder code disappeared from the sector controllers radar screen. The pilot did not make any radio transmissions during the accident sequence of events. The airplane crashed in a vertical nose-down attitude into a lake and was buried about 20 feet in the muddy silt terrain. The wreckage examination disclosed no evidence of an in-flight breakup or any preexisting airplane malfunctions or failures.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.