Imperial – Napa

On March 11, 2004 at 08:35 PM, Imperial – Napa experienced a crash involving Mitsubishi MU-2 Marquise, operated by Ronald S. Scott, with the event recorded near Napa California.

The flight was categorized as private and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 1, passenger fatalities: 1, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The airplane entered a descending turn while on a night visual approach and impacted a river. At 2030, the pilot reported leaving 6,000 feet, and stated that he had the airport in sight. The controller cleared him for the approach. He advised the controller that he would like to cancel his IFR clearance, and switch to the traffic advisory frequency. The controller cleared him to switch to advisory frequency. No further transmissions were recorded from the flight. According to radar data, the airplane was southeast of the airport, and maintaining a westerly heading south of the airport. At 2035, it crossed a river, and began a sharp left turn away from the airport. It completed about 90 degrees of turn before abruptly disappearing from radar contact, with the last radar target on the west side of the river near the impact location. The highly fragmented wreckage was recovered from the river after several weeks underwater. The teardown and examination of the engines disclosed that the left engine was not rotating or operating at the time of impact, and the left propeller was in feather. The type and degree of damage to the right engine was indicative of engine rotation and operation at the time of impact. Investigators found no pre-existing condition on either engine, or with the airframe systems, that would have interfered with normal operation, or explained the apparent shutdown of the left engine.

Aircraft reference details include registration N966MA, MSN 405, year of manufacture 1979.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 38.4899°, -122.3218°.