Seneca crash at Catalina Island

[English]

I heard there was a crash yesterday at AVX, and that the plane departed Long Beach.

Does anyone know if the plane belonged to Rainbow or Long Beach Flying Club?

 

[SpeedBird]

Don't know about your question concerning the Seneca's origination, but the local news stated that the airplane crash into a mountain near the Catalina Airport after executing a missed approach due to weather being below mins for the approach. A total of five people were on board (3 Adults & 2 Children). According to NTSB investigators the pilot was an ATP. The weather in LA has been dog doo (for Southern California at any rate) for the last couple of days. I can't understand the compelling reason to throw a bunch of folks into a GA single-engine aircraft and launch off into challenging IMC to get over to a resort island and land on top of a mountain (airport's location). Another needless tragedy by somebody who probably should have known better.

 

[Fly-n-high]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a Seneca a twin?

 

[SpeedBird]

You're right, I was thinking of a Saratoga and I should have known better!

 

[EMcx2]

It's been a year and a half since I've flown out of either Rainbow or LBFC but I don't remember a Senaca at either place.

 

[English]

Both Rainbow and LBFC have a Seneca.

 

[fly4ever]

Granite clouds don't care if it's single or multiengine.

 

[English]

Turns out it belonged to LBFC. A flight instructor and owner of the Seneca are said to have perished.

 

[SATCFI]

Delayed Missed Approach Procedure

Maybe some discussion between the CFI and student at the MAP? MAP is identified by the 2.8 DME from the VOR which is at the same elevation as the MDA (Actually the chart shows the VOR to be 50' higher than the MDA of 2100'). At an approach speed of 120KIAS, they would traverse that 2.8 in a little under 2 minutes. If they didn't notice the DME until sometime after the 2.8 MAP trigger, well the time to act goes down. The most important thing in the missed is to add climb power, establish a climb attitude and trim before you do anything else. Delayed procedure cost them (and 3 pax) their lives.


NTSB Identification: LAX04FA077
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Wednesday, December 24, 2003 in Avalon, CA
Aircraft: Piper PA-34-200T, registration: N3747U
Injuries: 5 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On December 24, 2003, about 1020 Pacific standard time, a Piper PA-34-200T, N3747U, impacted mountainous terrain while flying the missed approach portion of the VOR/DME approach to Catalina Airport (AVX), Avalon, California. Long Beach Flying Club was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The airline transport pilot/certified flight instructor (CFI), the commercial pilot under instruction (PUI), and three passengers sustained fatal injuries; the airplane was destroyed. The instructional cross-country flight departed Long Beach (LGB), California, about 0954 en route to Avalon. Day instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan had been filed. The primary wreckage was at 33 degrees 22.35 minutes north latitude and 118 degrees 25.09 minutes west longitude.

Approach control cleared the airplane for the VOR/NDB-B approach to AVX, and told the pilots to contact AVX UNICOM. The pilots established radio contact with the UNICOM operator, who advised them that the weather was: wind from 120 degrees at 4 knots; ceiling 100 feet overcast; and visibility 1.25 statute miles. AVX UNICOM received no other radio communication from the accident airplane.

The Safety Board investigator-in-charge (IIC) reviewed recorded radar data and noted a track identified with the flight's assigned 4711 transponder beacon code. Recorded radar data from the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) indicated that after the airplane took off from Long Beach, it climbed on a southerly course until passing the shoreline at a mode C reported altitude of 2,900 feet mean sea level (msl). The airplane continued climbing to a maximum reported altitude of 4,100 feet msl. The airplane continued south until passing the Santa Catalina VORTAC (SXC) (very high frequency omni-directional radio range, tactical air navigation). It then started to descend and turned northbound to start the VOR/DME-B approach. The radar track shows the airplane turning to the south and establishing the approach on a heading of 172 degrees. The airplane continued to descend to the published minimum descent altitude (MDA) of 2,100 feet msl and leveled off.

The accident airplane crossed the missed approach point (MAFPI) at the MDA of 2,100 feet msl. The missed approach point is 2.8 nautical miles from the SXC VOR. The SXC VOR is located on top of Mount Orizaba at an altitude of 2,090 feet msl.

The published missed approach procedures were: at the missed approach point climb from 2,100 feet msl to 3,200 feet msl, continue to fly 172-degree course, and hold at the SXC VOR.

The radar track showed that the airplane maintained an altitude of 2,100 msl from before the missed approach point until the first identified point of contact (FIPC).

The FIPC was 870 feet northeast of the SXC VOR, and was about 15 feet below the mountain ridgeline.

The debris path was 350 feet long and on a magnetic heading of 190 degrees.

The wreckage has been recovered for further examination.

 

[mar]

Another needless tragedy

There are some IAPs that *need* to be practiced first in VMC.

Catalina might qualify as one.

Of course it's always best to wait for the final conclusion of the investigation but I'm gonna go out on a limb and very rudely hazard a guess:

I'm guessing that since the airplane essentially crashed under control (heading 190, maintaining altitude) they simply lost track of their progress along the final.

Did the DME fail? Was DME installed? Maybe they were timing the approach even though "DME" is included in the title of the IAP and therefore required.