NTSB Identification: WPR12FA369
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, August 25, 2012 in South Lake Tahoe, CA
Aircraft: PIPER PA-32-301T, registration: N588ET
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. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On August 25, 2012, about 2145 Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-32-301T Saratoga, N558ET, impacted trees shortly after departing from Lake Tahoe Airport, South Lake Tahoe, California. The right-seated pilot was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The five occupants, which included the right and left-seated private pilots, were fatally injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage. The personal cross-country flight was originating from Lake Tahoe Airport, with a planned destination of Fresno, California. Nighttime visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
The occupants departed Fresno earlier that day and landed at Lake Tahoe Airport. After touchdown, a pilot was in communication with two fixed base operator (FBO) attendants and received directions of where to taxi the airplane. While taxiing to the ramp, the airplane’s engine shutdown and it took numerous attempts for the pilots to restart it. Upon parking, the pilots reported to the attendants that the airplane’s fuel/air mixture was difficult to establish at such a high density altitude and that if you operate the engine too lean its temperature will exceed normal operation parameters.
Following dinner, the occupants retuned to the airport with the intention of flying back to Fresno, where the airplane was based. One of pilots made a radio transmission on the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (UNICOM) stating that they were departing runway 36 and making a “straight out over the lake departure and then a crosswind departure to the left.”
A review of the recorded security camera footage at the airport revealed that the airplane could be seen in the nighttime conditions by a blinking light. The airplane appeared to depart from runway 36 and near the end of the runway began an ascent. The light appeared to level off and then a flash of light occurs in the area of the accident site.
Numerous witnesses reported hearing the airplane depart and noticed that the engine noise sounded labored, as if it was not producing full power. The airplane impacted trees located about 0.43 nautical miles (nm) north of the departure end of runway 36 and came to rest about 300 feet further north.
CBS 47 spoke to family and friends of the five people killed in a plane crash Saturday evening. Among them, two married couples and a seven-year old girl.
The single-engine plane crashed and burst into flames shortly after taking off from a South Lake Tahoe Airport, around 10pm.
The pilot, Frank Delamora fueled at Fresno's Chandler airport and took off for Lake Tahoe around 6pm.
He flew with his wife and seven-year daughter Esmeralda to have dinner.
Radio Mechanic Frank Ruiz says Delamora was an experienced pilot, but believes he took a risk flying back to Fresno at night.
“Flying into Lake Tahoe is not really nice, especially at night time and I told Frank be careful on take off because you fly into the mountains,” Ruiz said.
Delamora owned JDM Transpoort, a trucking company in Fresno.
Employees spoke highly of their boss’s rise from a trucker to a successful businessman.
“He wanted more business to provide more jobs. And now that's not going to happen. We're here. We have to keep on going because that's one thing that he wanted. He never wanted to shut down his trucking business,” said Julieta Romero.
Julieta Romero described how Delamora trusted his workers, and was just as loyal to his friends.
Close friends Harold and Kin Cardwell went along to celebrate Kin's birthday.
Harold was the co-pilot and a longtime insurance agent at Allstate insurance in Fresno.
“Everyone loved him; his customers and everyone cared about him and he was a very hard worker. I understand today would have been his wife's birthday,” said LouAnn West, Harold's coworker and friend.
It was the first time Cardwell and Delamora flew to Tahoe.
An autopsy of the victims is underway.
Federal investigators won’t know the cause of the crash for a few months.
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