22
Nines was on position when the aircraft hit 4,500 feet and the pilot stated
that he was experiencing a rough ride and requested to return to MRY.
Suddenly, the aircraft's altitude dropped to 1,800 feet. It was descending
tail-first in a dangerous spiraling turn.
Nines: N5188T, NorCal approach, are you alright there?
N5188T: Uh, no I'm getting…
Nines: N5188T try to level your wings, just level your wings. I'm getting a
low altitude alert, check your altitude immediately. The minimum vectoring
altitude in that area is two thousand, three hundred.
Nines continued to advise the pilot to level his wings. During these
transmissions, aircraft on the same frequency became aware that this
pilot was in danger. An unknown pilot began to advise the Cessna pilot
to activate the autopilot if it was on board because it would assist him in
keeping the wings level. The Cessna pilot was able to successfully turn on
his autopilot, but because of the nature of his equipment failures, this
Ryan Nines, William L. Hoppe Jr., and Luis Ramirez
were all controllers on duty when a Cessna 182
departed Runway 28 from Monterey Regional
Airport (MRY) and headed towards Lincoln Regional
Airport (LHM) on Nov. 18, 2015.
RYAN NINES
No. California TRACON
WILLIAM L. HOPPE JR.
No. California TRACON
LUIS RAMIREZ
No. California TRACON
