Friday, February 25, 2022

Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, N10JA: Accident occurred February 24, 2022 near Oceanside Municipal Airport (KOKB), San Diego County, California

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. 

The National Transportation Safety Board did not travel to the scene of this accident. 

Additional Participating Entities: Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; San Diego, California
Hartzell Propellers; Piqua, Ohio
Textron Aviation; Wichita, Kansas
Texas Turbine Conversions; Texas
Honeywell Aerospace; Phoenix, Arizona

Registered Owner:  GoSky America 5 Inc

Operator:  GoJump Oceanside


Location: Oceanside, California 
Accident Number: WPR22LA114
Date and Time: February 24, 2022, 12:45 Local
Registration: N10JA
Aircraft: Cessna 208B 
Injuries: 2 Serious
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Skydiving

On February 24, 2022, at 1245 Pacific standard time, a Cessna C208B Supervan 900 airplane, N10JA, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident in Oceanside, California. The pilot and passenger were seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 skydiving flight.

The pilot stated that the passenger, who is also a pilot, had planned to observe the skydiving operation over the course of the day. Earlier in the day, the pilot had conducted three flights to drop off skydivers at an altitude of about 13,000 feet mean sea level (msl). On the fourth flight, the airplane departed runway 25 and made a gradual climb to 12,700 ft msl. The skydivers departed the airplane, and the pilot initiated a steep, turning descent in excess of 6,400 ft per min (fpm). The pilot stated that he set the power to idle and recalled the torque gauge indicated 0%. When the airplane was on the base leg of the traffic pattern to runway 25, at an altitude of about 4,000 ft msl, the pilot attempted to arrest the descent by adding power (see picture 1 below). 

The pilot further stated that despite his attempts to add power, his movement of the power lever was unresponsive, and the engine thrust did not increase. He moved the propeller speed lever, which was also unresponsive. The pilot presumed the engine had flamed-out and attempted to restart it. With the propeller still windmilling, he switched the ignition to “continuous” and turned the boost-pump on. He observed the torque gauge increase from 0% to 20%, but the power lever was still unresponsive. He added full nose-up elevator trim and the control yoke was full aft, against the stop. Even with the full elevator inputs, the airplane could not maintain a level attitude. The airplane collided with terrain in a nose-low attitude about 1,400 ft short of the runway (see picture 2 below). The pilot did not feather the propeller during the flight. 

The passenger stated that before the flight, the pilot explained various flight sequences that are done for skydiving operations. The pilot said that he will occasionally use a beta setting in-flight as a means to perform a rapid descent. During the accident flight, the pilot told the passenger that he would use beta to descend and “race the skydivers to the ground.” After the skydivers departed, the pilot began a steep descent and retarded the power lever to beta mode. The passenger noted that fuel gauges indicated empty, and a low fuel light was illuminated, both of which he relayed to the pilot. The pilot responded by saying that the gauges were inaccurate. Shortly thereafter, while on the base leg of the traffic pattern, the pilot stated that he was going to make a right turn without using any rudder.

The passenger further stated that the pilot initiated a steep right bank followed by a steep left bank. He recalled that the turns were all uncoordinated and the auxiliary fuel pump light was illuminated. The pilot began to move the power and propeller speed levers and then stated that they “lost the engine.” The airplane impacted terrain in a nose-low attitude. The passenger took several videos of the flights from his cell phone. The video from the accident flight showed that the fuel gauges were at empty, the propeller RPM was about 65% and the oil temperature and pressure were in the green arcs.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors that responded to the accident stated that the fuel tanks remained intact with no apparent perforations. Recovery personnel drained about 20 gallons of fuel from the airplane, all of which was in the right wing (the airplane came to rest in a right-wing low attitude). The airplane was recovered for further examination.



Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information

Aircraft Make: Cessna
Registration: N10JA
Model/Series: 208B Supervan
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Amateur Built:
Operator: 
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None
Operator Designator Code:

Meteorological Information and Flight Plan

Conditions at Accident Site: VMC 
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: KOKB, 28 ft msl
Observation Time: 12:52 Local
Distance from Accident Site: 0 Nautical Miles
Temperature/Dew Point: 16°C /-3°C
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear 
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: 11 knots / , 260°
Lowest Ceiling: None 
Visibility: 10 miles
Altimeter Setting: 30.22 inches Hg
Type of Flight Plan Filed: None
Departure Point: Oceanside, CA 
Destination: Oceanside, CA

Wreckage and Impact Information

Crew Injuries: 1 Serious  
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries: 1 Serious 
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries:
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 2 Serious 
Latitude, Longitude:  33.220357,-117.34318 (est)

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Morgan Vohs, who is stationed at Camp Pendleton and lives in Fallbrook, is one of two good Samaritans who rendered first aid to two plane crash victims in Oceanside on February 24, 2022.
~




OCEANSIDE, California — A U.S. Marine was on his way home from Camp Pendleton Thursday when he saw a small plane crash in Oceanside, prompting him to pull over, sprint across the highway and find a way to help.

The Cessna 208B Grand Caravan with the skydiving company GoJump, went down a few hundred feet short of the runway at Oceanside Municipal Airport around 1 p.m., according to police.

Authorities haven’t said what caused the plane to crash, but it came to a rest with its nose on the ground and its tail in the air. The propeller on the front of the aircraft was destroyed and two people inside the plane were hospitalized.

Sgt. Morgan Vohs, an open water safety coxswain who’s based at Camp Pendleton, saw the aircraft go down near the airstrip as he drove home on state Route 76.

“As soon as it hit, I just immediately pulled over and jumped the 76 and ran over to the crash,” Vohs said, in an interview released by the USMC.

The sergeant went streaking across the lanes and reached the crash before first responders, officials said. He was able to provide first-aid and helped keep the pilots calm while they waited for paramedics to arrive.

“Looking back, Vohs said he did what anyone else would do in that situation,” a USMC spokesperson wrote in a news release.

“Every Marine goes through it in boot camp. It’s called CLS, Combat Life Saving,” Vohs said. “Every Marine knows the basics of medical training. It’s just second nature.”

Officials had not provided an update on the two injured pilots as of late Friday morning. On Thursday, Oceanside police said one of the men had “critical” injuries while the other was in “moderate condition.”

The crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

GoJump, which has locations in Las Vegas and San Diego County according to its website, was founded in Oceanside and has an office located at the airstrip. An airport spokesperson told FOX 5 that the pilots were returning from a skydiving trip at the time the plane went down.

8 comments:

  1. News helicopter flyover video:
    https://www.cbs8.com/video/news/local/plane-in-oceanside-had-a-hard-landing-short-of-the-runway/509-ada97c9e-b44c-4dbb-93ea-6d0d73f51f0d

    Scene video:
    https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/north-county-news/loved-ones-thankful-after-pilot-survives-oceanside-plane-crash

    Track:
    https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a00324&lat=33.238&lon=-117.342&zoom=11.3&showTrace=2022-02-24&trackLabels

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  2. Two pilots on board, shallow dive all the way to the ground, no apparent attempt to pull out or flare. Seems to me like some sort of mechanical problem.

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  3. I witnessed this. Oddly steep maneuvering preceding a steep nose down attitude, as if in a forward slip with no flare. My prediction: Hot dogging.

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  4. Oddly aggressive maneuvering. I witnessed the crash. Steep nose down attitude, almost like a forward slip, but right into the ground. My prediction: Hot Dogging pilot error.

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    Replies
    1. A local jump operation in our town routinely makes steep, high speed descents that require heroic pullouts at low altitude AGL. Can always tell it's them by the sound. Some operators exhibit a rad dood skate park, windsurfing, snowboarding, x-games mindset.

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  5. I had an interesting convo with the pilot, who's still recovering and
    glad to be alive. He's a nice guy, been flying skydivers many years
    (also works for the airlines) so not inexperienced. He said he was told
    to demonstrate various profiles to the new observing pilot, and this run was
    showing the standard profile for getting down fast to pick up the next
    load on busy days...

    He now thinks that the engine never actually failed... He thinks the
    prop governor failed and locked up in flat or reverse pitch during the
    idle descent, and the drag/reverse thrust brought them down with the
    glide ratio of a rock. He says he was fighting for his life the whole
    way down and that it was no fun...

    He said the Supervan STC doesn't prohibit beta use in flight and it's
    often used for skydiving... Hopefully the NTSB can get to the
    bottom of what happened here, but in the meanwhile, if you're flying a
    Garret/Honeywell 331 based jump plane, especially with an MT carbon
    fiber propeller, probably a wise idea to avoid idle or beta descents
    while in flight regardless of the operating limitations...

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  6. I work in the vicinity of this airport, and didnt see this crash, but I watch these guys fly every day. Its an interesting thing to note that these guys fly very aggressive approach profiles, steep descents etc in these planes and its odd looking from a non-pilot on the ground. The other thing that was interesting to me was this particular skydiving center used a different type of plane, an STOL style that i cant remember the name of, before seemingly switching to the 208s, and the accident happened within months of them switching to this different airframe. Dunno if that had anything to do with the crashes though.
    Posting this comment on the day of a second 208 crash at this airfield, operating in what seems to be very similar profiles, with a similar crash result. Unfortunately, according to news reports, the pilot died.

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