Caudle Hay Sales

Rockwell Aero Commander 560

The private pilot with about 3,000 hours of reported flight time and no instrument rating departed his home base, Thermal, California, for a short cross-country flight to Las Vegas, Nevada. There was no record of a preflight weather briefing, and no flight plan was filed. When the pilot failed to arrive at his destination, a search was initiated. The wreckage was located 6 days after it departed Thermal with the help of radar data. According to the radar data, the airplane was at 16,100 feet when it started a series of maneuvers while descending. Postcrash examination of the wreckage revealed that the left wing outer panel, aileron, and left engine were located some distance from the main wreckage. The weather at the time of the accident was reported as marginal VFR with thunderstorm cell activity in the area. The airplane did not have a working oxygen system nor was it equipped for instrument flight nor icing conditions.