- Date
- December 15, 2023, 20:33 UTC
- Place
- Griffin, GA · Shared taxiway/driveway of 8GA9
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N303RABeech 58
- Defining event
- Landing: Wrong surface or wrong airport
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20231215020559A
- Case key
- 193632
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 misidentification of a taxiway as the intended runway, which resulted in a collision with a utility pole and trees.
Findings · 1
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 his intended destination airport was Cedar Ridge Airport (GA62), Griffin, GA, but due to misidentification of the airport while airborne, he landed at Brook Bridge Aerodrome (8GA9), Vaughn, GA. He reported that he did not realize he was approaching the wrong airport until he was “too low and too slow.” The airplane touched down on a shared taxiway/driveway before impacting a utility pole with the left wing. Subsequently, the airplane spun and impacted trees resulting in substantial damage to the left wing, nose structure, and right wing. The pilot reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N303RA
- Reported as
- Beech 58
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- TH-506
- Built
- 1974
- Airframe hours
- 4,089
- Engines
- Continental Aerospace Technologies IO 520, 285 horsepower, reciprocatingContinental Aerospace Technologies IO 520, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 11, 2023 · 38.1 hours before
- Departed
- MCN · Macon, GA
- Destination
- GA62 · Griffin, GA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 8GA9 · Brook Bridge Aerodrome
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Onboard weather, Stall warning system, ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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
- 77
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 6, 2022
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 5,745 total · 33,225 in this make and model · 75 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.40 inHg
- Observed at
- FFC, 9 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KFFC 152053Z AUTO 05006KT 10SM CLR 15/M07 A3040 RMK AO2 SLP299 T01501067 56022=
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 29, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 18.9 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.