LAX01FA222 · Beech 35-B33

The pilot took off at about 0935 pacific daylight time. At 0945, the pilot had advised the radar controller that he was returning to the departure airport, and he stated that he was not feeling well. A minute later, during a subsequent transmission, the controller asked the pilot if he was feeling any better. The pilot's answer was unintelligible. Thereafter, at 0950, the pilot stated "Tower, get an ambulance to the field." Several eyewitnesses observed the airplane approaching the airport at a low altitude. As the airplane descended it entered a steep left bank and collided into the side of a parked truck. The airplane came to rest about 3.3 nm from the airport. In 1999, the manager of the FAA Aeromedical Certification Division had reviewed the pilot's medical information, which revealed a history of congestive heart failure and other ailments. The FAA determined the pilot was ineligible for issuance of a third-class aviation medical certificate. However upon the pilot's submission of additional medical information, the FAA granted authorization for special issuance of the requested third-class medical certificate. The certificate was subsequently renewed, and at the time of the accident it bore an expiration date of August 31, 2001. In the autopsy report the deputy medical examiner indicated that the "history of severe cardiac dysfunction and the findings of severe arteriosclerosis and myocardial scarring and granulation tissue suggest that the [the pilot's] incapacitation was likely due to an acute cardiac event."

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset