- Date
- December 28, 1989, 15:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Merrill, WI
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N69556Cessna 340
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891228054349A
- Case key
- 14520
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
Failure of the pilot to maintain proper alignment with the runway during his landing roll and an inflight encounter with icing conditions.
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 accident airplane collided with a snowbank during an attempted landing. According to the pilot, he encountered freezing rain after breaking out of the clouds at approximately 1000 feet AGL during his instrument approach to the airport. He stated that ice accumulated on the windshield faster than the deicers could remove it and he was forced to make his approach to the runway with no forward visibility. The airplane touched down to the left of centerline on the 75 foot wide runway and the airplane drifted left until the left main landing gear collided with a snowbank on the edge of the runway. The left main landing gear and the nose landing gear then failed and the airplane slid to a stop.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N69556
- Reported as
- Cessna 340
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 340-503
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-NB, 325 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Semling-Menke Co. Inc.
- Departed
- STP · St Paul, MN
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- RRL · Merrill Muni, runway 7, 4,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 5,250 total · 1,900 in this make and model · 5,175 as pilot in command · 150 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.