Monterey Peninsula Airport
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News Articles on Aircraft Crashes and Incidents
Monterey County Herald Column
Published Thursday, May 10, 2001
NTSB works to unravel air tragedy
There are a few good things about the marine layer that frequently hovers over
Monterey.
It brings moisture to the trees that shade the Peninsula. It keeps things relatively
cool.
But to some people, it's nothing more than a canopy of gloom.
To pilots, it can be deadly.
On April 22, William Yoder flew a Cessna twin-engine plane here from his home
in Carson City, Nev. In Monterey, he dropped off his passenger, Jordan Chappell,
gassed up and headed out again.
It was his last flight.
Just a few minutes after takeoff, Yoder, 70, slammed into a Carmel Valley hillside.
At that moment, some of the world's most skilled investigators went to work. The
National Transportation Safety Board employs people who know exactly what to look
for in the seemingly unfathomable wreckage of an air crash.
Their reports, available on the NTSB's Web site, make for some fascinating reading.
In this case, their preliminary findings show that Yoder may have made some fatal
errors in those final few minutes.
According to the report, the Cessna left the airport just before 11:05 a.m. and,
shortly thereafter, the air traffic controller told Yoder his transponder wasn't
working. He apparently set about turning on the device, which transmits identifying
information to controllers.
He was instructed to fly to 6,000 feet, but did not rise fast enough, reporting
that he was only at 2,000 feet about three minutes into the flight.
Most difficult to comprehend is the 60-degree turn to the right that put him on
a direct course with the mountainous terrain. He reported his altitude at 2,200
feet at 11:08:13.
His last transmission, at 11:08:28, was the first indication that he was close
to open sky.
"We're just about to break out here a little bit," he said.
Two seconds later, the controller radioed a warning: "34XRAY you're heading directly
toward higher terrain. Turn northbound immediately if you're not VFR." (VFR is
"visual flight rules," meaning a pilot is in clear air and able to navigate by
sight.)
The report is preliminary, so it doesn't include a cause, but it seems probable
that pilot error will at least be a factor. The NTSB investigator who handled
the case wasn't available for comment.
However, John Barry Smith, a former Navy bombardier navigator who lives in Carmel
Valley, said he figures Yoder was communicating with the tower and working on
his transponder when he should have been concentrating all his faculties on flying
through the marine layer. Smith, who has studied numerous air crashes, and who
survived the crash of a military aircraft, was particularly interested in this
case because it happened so close to his home.
"Apparently, the pilot had his head in the cockpit trying to get his transponder
to work, turned right when not supposed to, and did not climb as ordered but stayed
about level and climbed gradually, about 800 feet per minute, and almost made
it," Smith said. "He could see the light sky through the clouds but never made
it because he flew right into a mountain."
Smith said one of the rules pilots should follow is "aviate, navigate, communicate."
In other words, fly the aircraft first before you worry about other matters. So
what about that right turn?
It's hard to explain, but Smith guesses that as Yoder worked on the transponder,
he may have turned the Cessna without even knowing it.
So far, it's a mystery. If anyone can unravel it, it's the NTSB.
Andy Rose's column appears on Sundays and Thursdays. He can be reached at 646-4355.
Crash Date: April 22, 2001
Monterey County Herald April 23, 2001
Aircraft Incidents
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