- Date
- July 21, 1993, 18:10 local (23:10 UTC)
- Place
- Boyceville, WI
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3578RBeech A23
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 17, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930721024869A
- Case key
- 9246
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 failure of the pilot to attain the proper touchdown point, and his failure to perform a go-around.
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
Witnesses reported seeing the airplane touchdown past mid-point of the runway at a high speed. Just prior to reaching the end of the runway, they recalled hearing the engine speed up and seeing the airplane liftoff. The airplane then struck a pickup truck traveling on the nearby perimeter road, bounced off the pickup and struck terrain. The airplane immediately caught fire. The witnesses saw the pilot walk out of the flames and collapse. The pilot told one witness 'I came in too fast and ran out of runway.'
Factual narrative
On July 21, 1993, about 1810 central daylight time, a Beechcraft A23 airplane, N3578R, was destroyed by in-flight collision with a vehicle and terrain, and postimpact fire, during an aborted landing at Boyceville Municipal Airport, Boyceville, Wisconsin. The solo private pilot was fatally injured. The flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without flight plan under 14 CFR Part 91.
Witnesses reported the airplane appeared to touchdown too fast and too far down runway 4 to stop. They heard the engine speed increase rapidly and saw the airplane liftoff at the very end of the runway. The airplane then collided with a pickup truck driving on State Highway 170, the roadway adjacent to the departure end of runway 4. The airplane continued in a northerly direction and came to rest near a railroad track. The airplane immediately caught fire. The pilot was seen walking away from the wreckage and collapsing. One witness spoke with the pilot shortly after the accident. The witness asked the pilot what happened, and the witness reports that the pilot responded, "I came in too fast and ran out of runway."
The driver of the pickup truck and his two juvenile children riding with him received minor injuries. The driver told a Sheriff's Deputy that he was driving west on State Highway 170 when he saw the airplane about five feet before it struck the truck. He said that he knew the airplane was going to strike his truck (a 1986 Ford Ranger), and that he just had time to lie down atop his two children.
State Highway 170 skirts the northern perimeter of the Boyceville Airport. The estimated distance from the end of the runway to the highway is twenty-five yards.
The pilot received severe burns and died July 24, 1994.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3578R
- Reported as
- Beech A23
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- M-758
- Engine
- Continental IO-346A, 165 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Arnold E. Swanson
- Registered owner
- Arnold E. Swanson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Airport
- WI20 · Boyceville Airport, runway 4, 2,800 × 40 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
- 56
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 252 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- EAU, 25 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.