Cessna 414 N414BA (Point Loma, California — 200+ fsw)

Introduction

On June 8, 2025, there was a tragic and fatal airplane accident in the ocean 3 miles off Point Loma, California.

A twin engine Cessna 414 had problems almost immediately after takeoff. According to recordings with the tower, the pilot was having trouble and struggling to maintain altitude. The tower was directing him to get back to land at a nearby airfield. The airplane crashed and six people died including a father and three children along with the pilot and his wife.

There were multiple helicopters and boats involved in the search immediately after the accident. They located the general area due to an oil slick spotted by a police helicopter that was nearby. According to news articles, search crews found scattered wreckage. Multiple government agencies were involved in the search and they kept a boat on the scene for about 24 hours and called off the search on the morning of 10 June.

After the crash, we thought that we could find the aircraft but had some scheduling conflicts. In the past, we have provided closure to numerous families for other wrecks that we located and identified. We hoped we would be able to do the same in this situation. In the past the wrecks were many decades old but in this case it was obviously very recent.

We finally got schedules to align and found the wreck with a 100% verified identification of the tail number. We are not publishing the exact location but will provide details of the wreck itself.

We contacted USCG and NTSB immediately upon my surfacing from the dive to report the wreck and filed a report. We have also contacted the family of the passengers and provided them with details of the wreck.

The Plane & Accident

The aircraft is a twin engine Cessna 414 that was built in 1970. The airplane itself is pretty “sturdy” with two large engines, cabin space for 6 and the cabin is pressurized. It is not like the small single-engine planes that many people think of when they hear “Cessna.”

The day before the crash, they had flown from Phoenix to San Diego and they were on their way back on the day of the accident. The airplane is a six-seater with two seats up front and then four in the cabin and it is a pressurized cabin aircraft. Below are photos of the actual airplane that crashed.

The pilot radioed the tower shortly after takeoff and indicated that he was having trouble maintaining altitude. The controller then guided him to the closest airfield which was a mile away. The pilot could not see the airport and made several erratic maneuvers before issuing multiple mayday calls.

Given modern technology, there is a lot of information online about the crash including the recording of the audio with the San Diego airport tower and graphics of the flight path. Below is a diagram from the investigation report from the NTSB (included further below):

It is clear that the pilot was having trouble with altitude and direction. Note the steep drop from 2,000 feet to 200 feet before climbing back up to the 2,000 feet .

Below is the preliminary report from the NTSB.

Below is another graphic of the flight path of N414BA before the crash that gives a better idea of the location and path.

The Wreck

Given the eyewitness accounts of the crash, we thought that the wreck would primarily be a debris field but we were wrong. Eyewitness accounts say that it “slammed” into the water and some indications were that it impacted the water at 200 mph.

We knew the approximate location of the wreck but our schedules took some time to align. Eventually, we got a date on the calendar and went out to investigate.

We used the in-hull side-scan sonar on the Marissa to find what we thought might be the wreck (circled in red in the top diagram below). We then looked at the potential target with the sonar and didn’t see many fish but did see some structure.

It is in an area with only sand so it was likely the wreck and we put down a downline. I geared and headed down the line. Conditions were pretty good. There was a lot of plankton in the water but the visibility was decent. By the time I got to depth (> 200 feet), it was pretty dark but I saw a large white structure close to the line and I knew that we had found it.

I put a strobe on the line and headed to the wreck to take photos. I quickly found the tail and positively identified it as N414BA.

I spent 10-15 minutes taking photos for a photogrammetry model and then started to explore for other debris.

It was very dark and I didn’t run a line from the main wreck. I went south from the front and didn’t find anything so I went back to the starboard (western facing) side of the wreck and found numerous pieces of debris including wing sections and one of the props. I had lost sight of the strobe but found my way back to the main wreck based on direction and then found the line.

I had about 25 minutes of descent + bottom time and about 50 minutes of decompression for a total run time of about 75 minutes. My diluent was 11/46 and I had 20/39 and 70% for my bailout gas. It is important to note that I did not disturb anything or look for bodies or remains and took only photos. The sole purpose of this dive was to positively identify and document the wreck and we were not paid to find it.

The nose of the aircraft is pointing almost due south. The fuselage is surprisingly intact. The tail is broken off to the starboard side of the airplane and there is one wheel close to the port side. The nose of the aircraft is broken off and the main interior cabin is largely intact.

Photos

Below are some photos of the main section of the wreck:

Below are photos of some of the other debris areas that are toward the west of the wreck.

Photogrammetry Model

I got enough photos for a decent photogrammetry model of the main fuselage area (quick sidetone: the black “gaping” area on the top starboard side of the fuselage is only due to lack of photo coverage — it is completely intact). The white paint was very reflective which I didn’t account for when I was taking photos so many of them are over-exposed.

Due to the circumstances surrounding the crash and the relatively recent accident, I will not be publishing the “live” photogrammetry model at this point.

Just in case anybody who follows wildlife is interested, as I was heading bak to find the main fuselage and the downline, I saw a flash which turned out to be a thresher shark. Going with the “show me a photo to prove it,” here is a photo I was able to snap off and some short GoPro footage. My camera was setup for very low light wreck photography so the shutter speed was low and I didn’t get the shark in focus, but it is good enough to identify the type:

Below a short GoPro clip:

Follow-Up

Immediately after surfacing from the dive, I let the team know that I had positive identification of the wreck from the tail number.

Lora radioed the US Coast Guard to alert them to the fact that we had found and identified N414BA. That night, Tyler contacted the wife of deceased husband & father and let her know that we had found the airplane. It was still officially listed as “missing” since nobody had located or positively ID’d it. I have also spoken to one of the co-owners of the airplane.

At this point, the USCG had also notified the NTSB and they are in the process of amending their reports to indicate that the plane has been located and identified. We have provided the exact coordinates to the family and both agencies.

Thanks To…

• Lora and Chris at Marissa Charters – we would not have found this wreck without the sidescan and expertise
• My dive & research partner, Tyler Stalter. He was pretty confident we could find the wreck and … we did

“AI Transparency” Statements

• Any errors in spelling or grammar are mine and mine alone.
• All prose was written by me, reviewed by others, with no AI assistance.