- Date
- March 3, 1993, 06:58 local (12:58 UTC)
- Place
- Panama City, FL
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N90399Smith, Ted Aerostar Aerostar 600
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 28, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930303004289A
- Case key
- 18245
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 poorly planned approach to the runway following an instrument approach resulting in a loss of control.
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 flight had been cleared for the vor-a approach, with instructions to circle to a right downwind and land on runway 14. The tower controller observed the airplane emerge from the overcast over runway 23 abeam the VOR, then make a tight right turn onto the downwind leg, parallel to runway 14 and close in. When the airplane was abeam the runway 14 threshold, she observed the nose pitch up, and the airplane did what she described as a wing over. It then dove and impacted the runway near the threshold. The controller stated that the pilot made this round trip every day, and she had seen him do this maneuver on several occasions.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N90399
- Reported as
- Smith, Ted Aerostar Aerostar 600 (AEROSTAR 6)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 60-0226-096
- Airframe hours
- 6,952
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1F5, 290 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Cherokee Leasing, Inc., doing business as Cherokee Express Air Cargo
- Registered owner
- Cherokee Leasing, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · February 15, 1993 · 58 hours before
- Departed
- TLH · Tallahassee, FL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- PFN · Panama City-Bay County, runway 14, 6,304 × 150 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
- 28
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 2,550 total · 312 in this make and model · 318 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 800 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.