NTSB report indicates pilot of doomed aircraft held no
instrument rating for flying at night in bad weather
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety
Board, which is investigating the cause of a Cessna 172 plane that
crashed Dec. 21 and killed four people, revealed that private pilot
Matthew Armstrong, 41, took flight in conditions he was not trained
to fly in.
The NTSB has pieced together the events before the crash through
verbal reports from the Oakland Flight Service Station and the
Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control.
NTSB report indicates pilot of doomed aircraft held no instrument rating for flying at night in bad weather
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the cause of a Cessna 172 plane that crashed Dec. 21 and killed four people, revealed that private pilot Matthew Armstrong, 41, took flight in conditions he was not trained to fly in.
The NTSB has pieced together the events before the crash through verbal reports from the Oakland Flight Service Station and the Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control.
Armstrong set out to fly the red-and-white single-engine plane from San Martin Airport to Fresno just before 9 p.m. the night of the crash. The night was a stormy one with rain, mist, fog and low clouds. Armstrong was a non-instrument rated private pilot, meaning he was trained to fly only in situations with clear visibility. The weather conditions on that Wednesday night required night instrument usage because of the cloud cover.
When Armstrong contacted the Oakland FSS for a weather briefing along his route from San Martin to Fresno, they did not recommend using visual flight rules for his route, according to reports from the NTSB.
He took off from San Martin Airport despite FSS’s warning, but contacted the Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control shortly after departure. He said he was having trouble maintaining visual contact and controlling the airplane, according to NTSB. The controllers attempted to help Armstrong find his way back to San Martin.
The radar data shows Armstrong taking a series of turns before TRACON lost radar contact with him at 2,500 feet mean sea level.
A park ranger in the area said he heard the airplane engine making a straining sound and then saw a flashing light in the clouds around 8:45 p.m. He called the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Communications Center to report what he saw.
The stormy weather hampered early search and rescue efforts. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team set out in search of the plane and passengers early Dec. 22 with the help of search teams from San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The Civilian Air Guard spotted the Cessna while flying overhead in a search plane and informed the teams of its location, where they recovered the remains of the four passengers. The three passengers and the pilot of the small plane had crashed into the rocky hillside.
The two adult passengers who died were identified as Armstrong and his wife, Sara Armstrong, 37, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office. Coroner Investigator Rosa Rodriguez said autopsies on the four victims have been completed, but the official causes and times of death would not be publicly released.
The coroner’s office would not release the names of the two children killed. But family members told The Fresno Bee that the Armstrongs’ niece, 11-year-old Kacie Kusalich, and their soon-to-be-adopted son, 4-year-old Cody, died when the plane crashed in a remote area southeast of the Coyote Lake reservoir.
Family members said the Armstrongs and their two teenage daughters had moved from Los Banos to Fresno earlier this year after Armstrong decided to relocate his machine parts business from Gilroy.
The two daughters will live with their uncle, Nathan Kusalich of Fresno, whose daughter Kacie died in the crash, said Helen Espy, Sara Armstrong’s mother.
“Every Christmas there is going to be this memory,” Espy said. “But we all believe that they are happy looking down on us and they are in a better place. It’s just that we miss them so dearly.”
A memorial service was held at Fresno’s Northside Christian Church for the plane passengers who died.
Two days after the accident, the assistant director of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team set off toward the crash site. Doug Mincey, 58, hiked out to the site of the downed plane to collect photos and information for future training and debriefing, but became faint and lost consciousness during the hike.
The California Department of Forestry, the Gilroy Fire Department and the Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call for help, but where not able to revive Mincey. Authorities determined Mincey died of a heart attack.
Mincey joined the Santa Clara search and rescue team in 1993 and worked on such high-profile cases as the search for Polly Klaus and Xiana Fairchild.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
