North American T-28B accident near Joshua Tree, CA
On February 4, 1999, a North American T-28B (airplane) was involved in an accident near Joshua Tree, CA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- February 4, 1999
- Place
- Joshua Tree, CA
- Aircraft
- North American T-28B · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 34.151°N, 116.271°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001205X00245
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On February 4, 1999, about 1440 hours Pacific standard time, a North American T-28B aircraft, N628B, was destroyed when the aircraft impacted mountainous terrain during cruise flight near Joshua Tree, California. The commercial licensed pilot was fatally injured. VFR conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight that was operated by the owner under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight departed from Van Nuys, California, at 1351, and was destined for Thermal, California. The aircraft was flying in a two-aircraft formation. The other aircraft, another T-28, was N128BJ. The accident file for that aircraft is LAX99FA090. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Southwest Region Quality Assurance Office, on departure from Van Nuys, N128BJ was the flight leader and N628B was the wingman. After departure from Van Nuys there was no further radio communication with any FAA facility. An observer on the ground at Yucca Valley airport, 13 miles northwest of the accident site, reported seeing a flight of two T-28 aircraft at 1430 flying southeast-bound at about 5,000 feet agl toward the accident site. The observer reported losing sight of the aircraft in the ragged cloud bases against the mountains southeast of the airport. PERSONNEL INFORMATION The pilot's logbook, located in the wreckage, contained the last entry on November 20, 1998. The hours shown in this report for the last 90 and 30 days are estimates by the Safety Board investigator, based upon an extrapolation of the rate that hours were reported flown over a previous 12-month p
Probable cause
The pilot's decision to attempt flight into an area of known adverse weather and the subsequent inadvertent VFR flight into IFR conditions resulting in an in-flight collision with mountainous terrain.
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Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.