Overview
On an early morning at approximately 0400, an airline transport rated pilot was returning a passenger, an organ transplant nurse, to an uncontrolled airport with no facilities. The airport was shrouded in ground fog. The pilot had received two abbreviated preflight weather briefings while waiting for the passenger and prior to departing at 0235.
Accident Sequence
Witnesses reported that the pilot attempted to land twice on runway 28 before making an approach to runway 10. At the time of the approaches, the airport was engulfed in ground fog. Witnesses noted that visibility was such that one could see straight up but not horizontally. The airplane collided with grape vineyard poles and canal/wash berms approximately 250 feet short of the runway 10 displaced threshold.
Investigators found approach charts for two airports with instrument approaches within 20 miles lying on the instrument panel glare shield. The passenger's car was parked at the uncontrolled airport.
Probable Cause
The official finding states the probable cause as the pilot's improper decision to attempt a visual approach and landing in instrument meteorological conditions and his failure to follow instrument flight rules procedures.