Daughters T18C accident near Needles, CA
On November 11, 2003, a Daughters T18C (airplane) was involved in an accident near Needles, CA. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- November 11, 2003
- Place
- Needles, CA
- Aircraft
- Daughters T18C · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 34.404°N, 114.753°W
- NTSB ID
- 20031126X01959
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On November 11, 2003, about 1105 Pacific standard time (PST), an experimental Daughters Thorpe T18C, N647C, broke up in flight and impacted terrain in the Turtle Mountains Wilderness area near Needles, California. The pilot/owner operated the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The airplane was destroyed in the accident sequence. The private pilot and one passenger received fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country flight that departed the Glendale Municipal airport (GEU), Glendale, Arizona, at 1015 mountain standard time. No flight plan had been filed. The flight was destined for the Santa Maria Public/Captain G Allan Hancock Field, (SMX), Santa Maria, California. A search and rescue (SAR) crew located the airplane at 0837 on November 12, 2003, after the issuance of a family concerned alert notification (ALNOT). A SAR printout of radar data showed a target at a mode C reported altitude of 12,300 feet mean sea level (msl) at 1103:45 PST. The target continued in a westerly direction, and at 1104:56, the mode C altitude was 5,000 feet , with a 9,400 feet per minute (fpm) rate of descent based on computed time and altitude differences between the target returns. The last target was 12 seconds later at 1105:08, at 34 degrees 24.23 minutes north latitude and 114 degrees 44.45 minutes west longitude. The reported mode C altitude was 3,300 feet. PERSONNEL INFORMATION The pilot logbook excerpts provided to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge (IIC) contained entries from January to Augu
Probable cause
the pilot's continuation of a visual flight rules (VFR) flight into an area of adverse weather, which resulted in an encounter with moderate to severe turbulence and in-flight breakup of the airplane.
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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.
