- Date
- February 18, 1987, 19:15 local (Feb 19, 1987, 01:15 UTC)
- Place
- Nashville, TN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N31590Piper PA-32RT-300
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report May 2, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870218002899A
- Case key
- 7379
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The plt reported that he conducted an ILS appch behind mixed jet and turboprop traffic; the acft encountered an 'extreme downdraft' while on appch and the acft vertical speed went from about 500 fpm to about 1200 fpm. He attempted to recover by adding full power, increasing pitch, and reducing the flap setting from 25 degrees to 10, but was unable to sufficiently arrest the sink rate. The acft subsequently struck two appch lights and a localizer platform about 1/4 mile from the rwy. A Beech 99 landing about 2 minutes ahead of the acft reported no problem on the appch. The freezing level at Nashville was reported to 900 ft MSL at 1750 CST. The plt reported that about 20 minutes of the 30 minute flt had been in the clouds. An air carrier flt that landed about 10 minutes ahead reported experiencing 'lots of rime ice'. The PA-32RT-300 POH states that the flaps should be slowly retracted only when a positive climb rate is established when initiating a go-around from a ldg appch.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N31590
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32RT-300 (PA-32RT-30)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-7885106
- Airframe hours
- 2,041
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1G5D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Transportation America Corp.
- Registered owner
- Charles Robert Laudermilk
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 13, 1987 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- M54 · Lebanon, TN
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- BNA · Nashville Metropolitan, runway 2L, 7,702 × 150 ft, concrete
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 34
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 6,529 total · 2,402 in this make and model · 6,323 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 320° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 300 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BNA
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.