- Date
- November 11, 1991, 19:00 local (Nov 12, 1991, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Charles City, IA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N9161PPiper PA-24-260
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report December 4, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19911111050899A
- Case key
- 15347
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
Proper glide path not maintained. Factors in the accident are the premature landing gear extension and inadequate airspeed by the pilot in command.
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 pilot said that during his IFR flight the acft had accumulated about two inches of rime ice on the leading edges of the wings and had lost about 15 knots airspeed. He established the acft on the localizer for the approach and when he was 1.9 miles from the airport and 500 feet AGL he reduced his airspeed to 100 knots and lowered the gear. The acft collided with trees then the terrain about 800 feet short of the runway.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9161P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-260
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-4649
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-D4A5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Culbert Aeronautics
- Departed
- OTG · Worthington, MN
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- CCY · Charles City, runway 12, 4,000 × 75 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
- 51
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 1,190 total · 107 in this make and model · 875 as pilot in command · 43 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 230° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 800 ft broken
- Temperature
- 30 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ALO, 40 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.