The National Transportation Safety Board traveled to the scene of this accident.
Additional Participating Entity:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Van Nuys, California
Location: Sylmar, California
Accident Number: WPR22FA160
Date and Time: April 20, 2022, 12:26 Local
Registration: N143JB
Aircraft: Cessna 337
Injuries: 1 Fatal
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal
On April 20, 2022, at 1226 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 337, N143JB, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Sylmar, California. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
After takeoff, tower personnel instructed the pilot to change radio frequency. The pilot replied that his landing gear had not fully retracted and requested to stay over the airport. The tower queried his intentions, and the pilot stated that he was going to climb to 2,500 ft and circle the airport. Tower personnel approved his request. There were no further radio transmissions from the pilot.
Witnesses in the surrounding area, and traveling on the 210 freeway, observed the airplane in a left turn. Shortly after, they observed the airplane nose drop and spiral to the ground. The airplane came to rest on an embankment wedged between two trees, upright and in a nose-low attitude about 80 ft from the roadway. The airplane’s left wing struck a fence before the airplane struck the ground. The wing remained near the top of the embankment.
The rear engine propeller assembly separated at the crankshaft and came to rest just forward of the right wing. The forward engine propeller assembly also separated at the crankshaft and was found underneath the engine in its relative normal position. Flight control continuity was established from the cockpit area to the respective flight control surfaces. The smell of fuel was present at the accident site, and the leftwing outboard and inboard fuel tanks had been breached. The right-wing inboard fuel tank had not been breached and fuel was observed in the tank, the outboard fuel tank had been breached.
The airplane was recovered for further examination.
Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information
Aircraft Make: Cessna
Registration: N143JB
Model/Series: 337
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Amateur Built:
Operator: On file
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: KWHP, 1003 ft msl
Observation Time: 11:55 Local
Distance from Accident Site: 3 Nautical Miles
Temperature/Dew Point: 18°C /7°C
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: / ,
Lowest Ceiling: Broken / 5500 ft AGL
Visibility: 10 miles
Altimeter Setting: 30.03 inches Hg
Type of Flight Plan Filed: None
Departure Point: Los Angeles, CA (WHP)
Destination:
Wreckage and Impact Information
Crew Injuries: 1 None
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries:
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries:
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 1 None
Latitude, Longitude: 34.310972,-118.43192 (est)
Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances east of I-210, Los Angeles, California.
Date: 20-APR-22
Time: 19:27:00Z
Regis#: N143JB
Aircraft Make: CESSNA
Aircraft Model: 337
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 1
Flight Crew: 1 fatal
Pax: 0
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: SUBSTANTIAL
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: APPROACH (APR)
Operation: 91
City: LOS ANGELES
State: CALIFORNIA
Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation may contact them by email witness@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov. You can also call the NTSB Response Operations Center at 844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290.
Authorities Friday identified the pilot of a small plane who died when the aircraft crashed alongside the westbound 210 Freeway in the Sylmar area.
John King, 62, died at the scene of the crash, which occurred around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the coroner's office. King was the only person aboard the plane, Eva Lee Ngai of the FAA said.
Records revealed that the Cessna 337 Super Skymaster was built in 1965, with a valid certificate for flight.
The plane landed in the middle of trees on an embankment along the freeway and did not hit any vehicles. The crash did not spark any flames, and narrowly avoided a group of power lines along that side of the road.
"Fortunately it was not on the 210 Freeway, because things would've obviously been a lot worse," Los Angeles Police Department Captain James Townsend.
"We did not get any information to tell us that the power lines were involved in the airplane crash," said LAFD Deputy Chief Trevor Richmond. "There wasn't any fire, there was a small fuel leak that was contained by fire resources."
He continued to note that the crews created a small berm in the immediate location of the leak to prevent it from flowing down onto the freeway.
The crash occurred around four miles north of Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, where it departed from at 12:20 p.m., crashing eight minutes later.
Locals have called for the airport to shut down several times in the past, and most recently in January after a pilot crashed onto the train tracks in the area, where he was barely rescued before his aircraft was struck by an oncoming train.
Pacoima Beautiful is one group hoping to shut down the airport. Teodora Reyes, one of the many locals that make up the non-profit organization, spoke with CBS reporters Wednesday evening, where she detailed that since as of 2020, 75 crashes had been related to Whiteman Airport, according to the NTSB.
Adding the three most recent crashes to happen since 2020, brings that total to 78.
"The concern is for the safety of the most impacted members," Reyes said, "who deal with the noise pollution and fear of an airplane falling on their home in the middle of the night."
"I just saw that Skymaster fall out of the sky there," said an air traffic controller over the airport's radio transmission after the crash. "He was at 2100 [feet], and then just descended quickly. At first I thought it was a bird but it was actually him going down."
L.A. City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez issued a statement following the crash on Wednesday evening, which read:
"Tragically, another life cut short by plane crash, and my heartfelt condolences to the victim's family. Pending confirmation of its departure, the frequency of these incidents should warrant an immediate closure and investigation over the private operations at Whiteman Airport out of respect for the lives of the victims, their families and our community."
Crews on the scene planned to move the plane from the embankment into an empty field adjacent to the crash site by crane, where NTSB and FAA investigators will work to determine the cause.
Witnesses on the scene detailed the moments during and after the crash occurred.
"All of the sudden you heard like this 'shhh... BOOM,'" said one woman who rushed to where the plane crashed. "When we went over there we didn't see smoke. Nothing was on fire."
Another man who was working at a group home just hundreds of yards from the scene of the crash also ran to the site.
"We heard the boom and boss said, 'There's a plane crash, see if you can help,'" he told CBS reporters. "So I ran over there and jumped the fence. There was nothing we could do."
The two lanes on the westbound 210 Freeway closest to the crash site were closed as investigators surveyed the scene.
A small plane crashed into an embankment overlooking the 210 Freeway in Sylmar, killing the pilot, on Wednesday afternoon, April 20.
The pilot was the sole occupant of the aircraft, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.
An air traffic controller at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, six miles from the crash, had advised the pilot to climb to 2,500 feet and fly in a “race-track pattern” along the 210 Freeway while waiting for clearance to land, according to recordings of radio communication.
Then, at 12:27 p.m., he realized there was a problem.
“(I) saw that (Cessna 337) Skymaster fall out of the sky, can you check if he’s on the freeway?” he asked at least one other pilot in a tower broadcast at 12:27 p.m. “I visually observed it about 2.5 miles northwest of the 210/118 interchange there.”
LOS ANGELES (CNS) — A pilot was killed Wednesday in the crash of a small airplane on an embankment near the westbound Foothill (210) Freeway in the Sylmar area.
The crash was reported at about 12:30 p.m. near Sayre Street, said Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
"After a thorough search of all void spaces in the aircraft, firefighters did not locate any other victims," Stewart said in a statement about an hour after the crash. "One person determined dead in the aircraft."
Information was not immediately available on the identity of the fatally injured person.
Firefighters quickly contained a small fuel leak, Stewart said.
"There was no fire resulting from the crash," Stewart said. "The NTSB is responding and will be the agency for any questions regarding the aircraft and the circumstances leading to the crash."
The crash occurred in the vicinity of Whiteman Airport in Pacoima. The plane apparently struck a bank of trees before hitting the ground on an embankment just off the freeway. At least two freeway lanes were closed to accommodate emergency vehicles responding to the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration released the following statement on Wednesday:
"This information is preliminary and subject to change. Please contact local authorities for the pilot’s name and medical condition.
A Cessna 337 Skymaster crashed near Interstate 210 and Hubbard Street in Sylmar, California, around 12:30 p.m. local time. The pilot was the only person on board.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates.
After investigators verify the aircraft registration number at the scene, the FAA will release it (usually on the next business day) on this webpage. You can look up the aircraft by its registration number on this webpage.
Neither agency identifies people involved in aircraft accidents."
