Bay Area Crash

[Conrad]

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Report-1-dead-after-plane-crashes-on-Mount-Diablo-13604292.php

Rest in Peace

At first glance it would appear to be classic CFIT. I remember the first time I was in the dark looking for mountains I knew were there and how impressed I was that they were complete invisible blackness. Stay safe up there!

Edited February 10, 2019 by Conrad

[Steve W]

I always hated departing LVK at night, after the lights of the houses end that mountain is just black. 

[Moh]

This is sad... I’m just wondering how CFIT still happening with all of the GPS and warnings systems available.


Thank you
Mohamed

[aviatoreb]

Oh boy that's awful.  Article says it may have been an M20. 

Mt Diablo is a place I have not thought of in quite a while - but when I was on the cycling team when I was in college at Berkeley way back when, that was one long big mountain ride.  It is a formidable mountain.  RIP.

[bradp]

Sad news.  

Erik I puked on the side the road on a ride up Mt Diablo when I was out that way - felt like I was gonna croak that day. Pretty views indeed.  

[kortopates]

  On 2/10/2019 at 4:04 AM, Moh said:

This is sad... I’m just wondering how CFIT still happening with all of the GPS and warnings systems available.


Thank you
Mohamed

Expand  

I used to think that too, but the fact is all the best technology doesn't make up for complacency and a  lack of flight planning. 

And not that many of the vintage Mooney's (not that we even know which model this was) have modern avionics, let alone piloted by people that really know how to utilize their avionics beyond the basics. 

Many years ago we saw 2 CAP pilots fly a new G1000 equipped  C182 into Mt Potosi on a night VFR flight. Hard to fathom how that one happened too with 2 pilots onboard with such a panel.  

Edited February 11, 2019 by kortopates

[bradp]

Someone on beechtalk was able to figure out the likely n number for this aircraft.  Basic shotgun panel. Apparently recently marketed / sold. 

[ilovecornfields]

I remember taking an ICC out of OAK in 1997. I was under the hood in a 172 and the instructor told me to fly a heading and intercept an airway. I got turned around and realized I had intercepted going the wrong direction (these were VOR and paper map days, of course) so I told the instructor “I’m heading the wrong way, can I do a 180?” To which he replied “Sure, do you want to turn right or left?” I picked right and about halfway into the turn he said “It’s a beautiful day today, what a waste to wear the hood. Why don’t you just take it off and enjoy the scenery?”

I took the hood off and was turning in a path that would have taken me right into Mt. Diablo. I’ll never forget that. When we were on the ground we had a discussion about the importance of looking for terrain (which wasn’t always easy in the IFR charts) and situational awareness. The Bay Area is very congested with unforgiving terrain. Sad to see someone succumb to it.

[mike_elliott]

If anyone knows Ricky Branaugh of placerville or his family, please touch base with me so we can engage the Bill Gilliland foundation. We will of course verify it was Ricky in the plane first. So sad.

Thanks

 

[bradp]

All it takes is an ipad and an EFB subscription and/or some semi-conservative thinking to avoid stuff like this. 

Seems like rain / fog along path with airmet sierra.  No IFR plan.

Sad.

[Moh]

  On 2/11/2019 at 12:25 AM, bradp said:

All it takes is an ipad and an EFB subscription and/or some semi-conservative thinking to avoid stuff like this. 
Seems like rain / fog along path with airmet sierra.  No IFR plan.
Sad.

I like @krotopates analysis above. It’s more towards complacency and lack of planning rather than lack of technology.


Thank you
Mohamed

[bradp]

Agree MOH.  It’s both.  The complacent pilot doesn’t use or think they need safety tools at their disposal.  The complacent attitude feeds into a cycle.  

[DaV8or]

I think it may also be a lot of pilots insist on flying direct because they think they can rather than routing around something to be safe. I'm not saying this is the case here, but perhaps he thought he could out climb the mountain.

[flyboy0681]

I used to live at the base of Mt Diablo, in Walnut Creek. I remember many times during the winter that it was obscured with fog halfway up, with the summit being totally in the clear.

[bonal]

  On 2/11/2019 at 12:53 AM, flyboy0681 said:

I used to live at the base of Mt Diablo, in Walnut Creek. I remember many times during the winter that it was obscured with fog halfway up, with the summit being totally in the clear.

Expand  

Very common especially in the summer but was a very different kind of day last Friday. Low ceilings very cold was even snowing on Diablo. I also recall the winds were quite gusty and to be doing it at night VFR in what might have been a new to him airplane. 

Very very sad.

[takair]

Is this the same aircraft?

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/28207-opinions-on-this-m20f/

 

[flight2000]

  On 2/10/2019 at 7:26 PM, mike_elliott said:

If anyone knows Ricky Branaugh of placerville or his family, please touch base with me so we can engage the Bill Gilliland foundation. We will of course verify it was Ricky in the plane first. So sad.

Thanks

 

Expand  

Mike, I don't think it was him.  He is listed as the owner, but I think he may have recently sold it through Sky Wagons.   Time will tell who was piloting the plane, but you might be able to reach out to Mike at SW and see if he'll let you know who it was sold to. 

http://www.skywagons.com/airplanes-forsale/1967-mooney-m20f-sold-n3270f

Brian

[kortopates]

The pilot has been identified as Chris de Bar

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/02/mooney-m20-fatal-accident-occurred-on.html 

Per the article, the plane went down Friday evening, and it wasn't till about 2:41pm Saturday that the burned plane was found at 1000' below the summit and reported by a hiker.

And the most shocking part is that he is/was a brand new pilot. Perhaps he just got his private - or perhaps not. Either way it was no place for new pilot to be. So Sad.

Personal Information
CHRISTOPHER LAWRENCE DE BAR  8025 BOREN LN GRANITE BAY CA 95746-5877 County:  PLACER Country: USA
Medical Information:
Medical Class: Third  Medical Date: 10/2018
BasicMed Course Date:  None   BasicMed CMEC Date:  None
Certificates
STUDENT PILOT
Certificates Description
Certificate: STUDENT PILOT   Date of Issue: 10/24/2018 Limits: CARRYING PASSENGERS IS PROHIBITED.

[carusoam]

Some technical details about the Mountain....

-a-

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Diablo

[mike_elliott]

  On 2/11/2019 at 1:40 AM, kortopates said:

The pilot has been identified as Chris de Bar
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/02/mooney-m20-fatal-accident-occurred-on.html 
Per the article, the plane went down Friday evening, and it wasn't till about 2:41pm Saturday that the burned plane was found at 1000' below the summit and reported by a hiker.
And the most shocking part is that he is/was a brand new pilot. Perhaps he just got his private - or perhaps not. Either way it was no place for new pilot to be. So Sad.

Personal Information
CHRISTOPHER LAWRENCE DE BAR  8025 BOREN LN GRANITE BAY CA 95746-5877 County:  PLACER Country: USA
Medical Information:
Medical Class: Third  Medical Date: 10/2018
BasicMed Course Date:  None   BasicMed CMEC Date:  None
Certificates
STUDENT PILOT
Certificates Description
Certificate: STUDENT PILOT   Date of Issue: 10/24/2018 Limits: CARRYING PASSENGERS IS PROHIBITED.

Thanks Paul. If anyone has contact info on Chris's family, please let me know


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[ArtVandelay]

  On 2/11/2019 at 2:12 AM, mike_elliott said:

Thanks Paul. If anyone has contact info on Chris's family, please let me know

 

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

I see 2, looks to be father and son, son is a student, father has PP.

The fathers medical was back in 1984.

 

Tom

[bradp]

Was this pilot on Mooneyspace?

[flight2000]

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/02/10/pilot-killed-in-mt-diablo-plane-crash-was-still-an-aviation-student/amp/

Some more information. 

Still a student.... 

Brian

[Yetti]

Looks like he was  right of course.

[orionflt]

I look at this accident and I pray for the family. then I start to look at the details and factors of the incident to learn from it. the key facts that I see that disturb me is this was a Student Pilot, flying cross country from one airport to another at night with bad weather in the area.  the questions I ask is why? did his CFI approve the flight? did he get a proper brief? why didn't he leave earlier or the next day? 

this is the type of situation where the accident chain could have been broken at so many different places. 

1. not flying because of conditions   

2. flying a different route to avoid the higher terrain and weather

3. flying during daylight hours.

Because I do not know if he conferred with his CFI before the flight, I will not speculate on those possibilities. 

 this is the second Mooney in just a few days to go down with inexperienced pilots flying in to conditions beyond their capabilities. I know that mechanical issues have not been ruled out and if they were a factor it would have defiantly pushed them past their limits. I consider myself an experienced pilot, I have not looked at the briefs for the flights and conditions that these pilots flew into but it has me wondering would I have flow those flight? was it predicted to be better then actual? would I feel my experience was enough to fly in those conditions safely? or would my experience tell me not to take the flight?       

Brian