Cessna 172 N3504A

Summary

On 27 June 2019 at about 04:02 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N3504A, operated by Gryphon Aire LLC, was involved in an accident near Pescadero, 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

27 June 2019 at 04:02

Classification

Accident

Location

Pescadero, California, United States

Coordinates

37.1133, -122.4081

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N3504A

Category

Airplane

Year built

2005

Engines

1

Operator

Gryphon Aire LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pescadero → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

Unk

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

WPR19FAMS1

1 person died.

Impact with the ocean for reasons that could not be determined because the airplane was not located.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Radar data indicated that the pilot departed around dusk and proceeded over the ocean, paralleling the coastline for about 20 miles before radar contact was lost about 3 miles offshore. Several persons in a campground that overlooked the ocean, witnessed an aircraft impact the water a few miles offshore; although they immediately notified law enforcement, who in turn notified the US Coast Guard (USCG), based on the lack of any reported missing or distressed aircraft in the region, the USCG did not initiate a physical search of the reported impact site at that time. The airplane was leased by a flying club and was discovered missing the following day when it could not be located by a club member who had scheduled to fly it. A USCG search several days later in the area of the last radar contact revealed no evidence of the missing airplane or pilot.   According to the flying club president, the pilot was not authorized to fly any of the club airplanes solo at the time of his disappearance, although he had been previously. To date, no subsequent traces of either the missing pilot or the airplane have been located; the airplane is presumed destroyed by impact in the ocean, and the pilot is presumed to have been fatally injured.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.