Rockwell AERO-COMMANDER 112TC N4696W

Summary

On 9 June 2003 at about 16:00 local time, a Rockwell AERO-COMMANDER 112TC registered N4696W was involved in an accident near Santa Nella, California, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 June 2003 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Nella, California, United States

Coordinates

37.0461, -121.2586

Aircraft

Rockwell AERO-COMMANDER 112TC

Registration

N4696W

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

San Jose → Merced

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX03FA187

1 person died.

The pilot's inadequate in-flight planning/decision by conducting VFR flight into IMC, and his failure to maintain terrain clearance. Contributing factors were low clouds, fog, and mountainous terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The single engine airplane collided with mountainous terrain while flying beneath a cloud overcast, in low visibility, through a mountain pass. The pilot, accompanied by his certified flight instructor (CFI), was flying to a location across a mountain range in another valley for the pilot's commercial check ride. The instrument rated pilots were visually trying to follow a highway through a mountain pass. Prevailing weather conditions in the mountain pass were overcast ceiling at the mountaintops and ridges, and less than a mile visibility in fog. A resident who lives 1 mile from the crash site said the visibility was less than 300 feet in fog at the time of the accident. Extensive examination of the wreckage disclosed no evidence of a preimpact mechanical malfunction, failure, or fire.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.