Diamond DA-40 N521DS

Summary

On 2 March 2009 at about 07:00 local time, a Diamond DA-40 registered N521DS, operated by Mitchell Enterprizes Inc., was involved in an accident near Arcata, 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

2 March 2009 at 07:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Arcata, California, United States

Nearest airport

Arcata (KACV)

Coordinates

41.0650, -124.1697

Aircraft

Diamond DA-40

Registration

N521DS

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Mitchell Enterprizes Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bakersfield → Arcata Airport

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

WPR09FA146

2 people died.

The pilot's failure to maintain proper altitude and glidepath while executing a night instrument approach. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's fatigue.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was executing an over-water instrument approach to Runway 14 on a dark night in an area of moderate to heavy precipitation and light to moderate turbulence. Based upon the airplane's descent profile, recorded radar data, local ocean currents, and the ultimate distribution of debris along the beach, the airplane impacted the ocean's surface about one-half mile offshore and about seven statute miles northwest of the Arcata Airport. In the forty-two hours immediately preceding the accident, the pilot had flown about twenty hours and forty-five minutes, and had crossed four time zones. There was no record of the pilot acquiring a weather briefing relating to his destination on the day of the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.