Cessna 182P N182ER

Summary

On 12 December 2000 at about 18:02 local time, a Cessna 182P registered N182ER was involved in an accident near Lancaster, 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

12 December 2000 at 18:02

Classification

Accident

Location

Lancaster, California, United States

Nearest airport

General William J. Fox Field (WJF)

Coordinates

34.7267, -118.2358

Aircraft

Cessna 182P

Registration

N182ER

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Public Use

Purpose of flight

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fresno → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX01GA057

1 person died.

the pilot's in-flight loss of control for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot lost control of the single engine airplane during a rapid descent to the arrival airport, and impacted the ground in a near vertical attitude at very high speed. The pilot reported he was 7 or 8 miles from the airport at 8,500 feet msl, and was inbound for landing. The controller asked the pilot if he would be able to descend from his position. The pilot answered, "Yeah, if I could do right traffic, I'll go into a imitation of a rock, see what I can do." The controller told the pilot to enter a left downwind leg at a midfield position, and issued the wind conditions, which were reported as 270 degrees at 25 knots. Several witnesses, within a mile of the accident site, reported seeing the airplane as being in a steep, nose down attitude at a rapidly increasing rate of descent. The airplane maintained a perpendicular, nose down attitude until they lost sight of the airplane behind low scrub brush. About the same time they lost sight, they reported seeing a dust cloud rise in the same vicinity. The dust cloud quickly dissipated in the gusting surface winds. The airplane's mode C radar data depicted the airplane descending at a rate of 5,500 feet per minute between the last two radar returns, which were spaced 12 seconds apart. The airplane's last radar return was depicted as 4,900 feet msl (2,545 feet above the ground). Co-workers described the following procedure used by the mishap pilot to lose altitude quickly: reduce power and slow airplane to 120 knots; position propeller control full forward; allow the engine temperatures to normalize; and trim airplane nose down to achieve an indicated airspeed near Vne (redline - Never Exceed Speed; 176 knots). It was reported the pilot learned this from other pilots who took parachutists to altitude. No pre-accident anomalies were noted with the airframe and engine during the examination. The main wings and all fixed and movable primary and secondary control surfaces were accounted for at the impact site. No evidence was found to support a physiological incapacitation. Investigators considered the possibility of some combination of airplane attitude and speed aerodynamically blanking the empennage surfaces; however, no evidence to support such a conclusion was found.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.