Piper PA-28 accident near Thermal, CA
On December 25, 1998, a Piper PA-28 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Thermal, CA. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- December 25, 1998
- Place
- Thermal, CA
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-28 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 33.570°N, 117.141°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001211X11590
NTSB summary
On December 25, 1998, about 1344 hours Pacific standard time, a Piper PA-28, N7776W, descended into the Salton Sea near Thermal, California. The airplane sank and is presumed to have been destroyed in the accident sequence. The owner, who does not hold a pilot certificate, was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The personal cross-country flight was believed to have departed the airport at Chiriaco Summit, California, at 1333. The nonrated pilot and his one passenger sustained fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. Concerned family members reported the aircraft missing when it failed to return in the evening hours as scheduled. The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) initiated a search mission, which included interviewing witnesses and reviewing recorded radar data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). According to the CAP report of the search mission, the pilot informed his daughter-in-law about 0945 on the day of the accident that he and his wife would be flying from the airplane's home base in Ramona, California, to a restaurant at Chiriaco Summit and return in the early afternoon hours. A recorded radar target departed Ramona about 1207 and appeared to terminate at Chiriaco Summit about 1248. A witness at Chiriaco Summit said he talked to the couple after noon and the airplane departed about an hour later. Recorded radar data identified a secondary 1200 (VFR) beacon code target that departed Chiriaco Summit at 1333 and headed to the southwest. About 1343, the target started a descent from a m
Probable cause
The occurrence of an in-flight incapacitating heart rhythm to the pilot. A factor was the pilot's ingestion of over-the-counter medications that made him more susceptible to an abnormal heart rhythm.
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Browse: California · Piper aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
