Had Logged Less Than Four Hours Of Night Flight

A student pilot who died along with his family in a Cessna 336 accident in August was inexperienced, according to an NTSB preliminary report. While he had more than 96 hours total time and more than 43 hours in type, he only had 3.4 total hours of night flying.

The accident killed 46-year old Kevin Bomback, his 45-year old wife Sherri, their 17-year old daughter Alicia and 12-year old son, Brent.

The accident happened just as Hurricane Ivan, a Category Three storm, approached landfall along the Florida panhandle on August 14th. According to the NTSB Preliminary Report, released this week, "The investigation further revealed that the student pilot/owner had been preparing his house and property in Molino, Florida, in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Ivan. During the course of the investigation a relative revealed that pilot had been frantically searching for an airport where he could move his airplane, in order to avoid Hurricane Ivan, since the airplane had not been insured."

The NTSB says Bomback took off from Atmore (AL) just hours ahead of the hurricane, at approximately 0100 local. The Cessna 336, N3832U (file photo of type, below), disappeared from radar almost two hours later, near Magee (MS). The wreckage was discovered by a Civil Air Patrol search on October 4th -- 26 days later.

NTSB investigator John Lovell told the Associated Press that there was no evidence of mechanical failure aboard the aircraft and Bomback seemed to have had plenty of fuel. A final report from the safety board isn't expected for up to a year.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=MIA04FA135&rpt=p