- Date
- January 12, 2021, 15:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Poplar Grove, IL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N436TBeech P35
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Landing area undershoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210112004989A
- Case key
- 102909
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's distraction and his failure to maintain a proper glidepath on the approach, which resulted in him landing short of the runway and impacting a snowbank.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that during the approach, he landed short of the runway and impacted a snowbank. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage. The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that during the approach, an airplane that had landed in front of him appeared to stop on the runway to turn back for the midfield taxiway. The pilot reported he was “focused on the airplane in front of him, instead of flying his airplane.”
Aircraft
- Registration
- N436T
- Reported as
- Beech P35
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- D-7240
- Built
- 1963
- Engine
- Continental IO470, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Departed
- RFD · Rockford, IL
- Destination
- C77 · Poplar Grove, IL
- Airport
- C77 · Poplar Grove, runway 30, 3,773 × 50 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Auto-pilot
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
- 78
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Private, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 6,196 total · 1,107 in this make and model · 4.3 in the last 90 days · 4.3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 36 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- KRFD, 15 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.8 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.