SEA88LA183 · Cessna 150L
Cessna 150L · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route
From S44 · Spanaway, WA to Redfern Aerodrome (WN41)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA88LA183
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Cessna 150L
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N11582
- Operator
- Kenneth A. Hansen · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From S44 · Spanaway, WATo Redfern Aerodrome (WN41), SEQUIM VALLEY, WA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- In flight encounter with weather
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, poor
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, improper
- Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, continued
- Pilot in command › Weather evaluation, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE RECENTLY CERTIFICATED PILOT DEPARTED ON A TWO HOUR ROUND-ROBIN FLIGHT TO ATTEND A MEETING AND WAS ADVISED TO EXPECT FOG ON RETURN. THE AIRCRAFT WAS FLOWN FOR ONE HOUR PRIOR TO THIS FLIGHT AND WAS NOT REFUELED. NO RECORD OF A WX BRIEF WAS FOUND. PRIOR TO THE RETURN FLIGHT, THERE WAS NO RECORD OF A WX BRIEFING OR REFUELING. THE PILOT WAS ADVISED BY ATC THAT THE DESTINATION WAS IFR. THE PILOT CHANGED HIS DESTINATION TO A NEARBY UNCONTROLLED AIRPORT. AFTER HE WAS UNABLE TO LOCATE THE AIRPORT, ATC OFFERED VECTORS TO A KNOWN VFR AIRPORT. THE PILOT DID NOT TAKE VECTORS DUE TO LOW FUEL STATE. HE THEN ACCEPTED VECTORS TO A THIRD UNCONTROLLED AIRPORT. WITNESSES OBSERVED THE AIRCRAFT THROUGH FOG FLYING AT A LOW ALTITUDE NEAR THE THIRD AIRPORT. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH TREES 1-1/2 MILES FROM THE THIRD AIRPORT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA88LA183
- Event ID
- 20001213X26940
- Case number
- SEA88LA183
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1988-09-22.
- API snapshot SHA-256: cd95f3a845ed0967ea07d9fd5b067a17aaf225ff9e625da79d793e7236980539; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:33:21.307Z.