- Date
- July 18, 2024, 07:20 local (11:20 UTC)
- Place
- Port St. Lucie, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N89LFCirrus Design SR20
- Defining event
- Landing: Wrong surface or wrong airport
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- 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
- 20240718008159A
- Case key
- 194754
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 failure to correctly identify the airport runway, which resulted in a landing on a road and contact with a power line. Contributing to the outcome was the sun glare.
Findings · 2
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 was flying to a small, private airpark to pick up a colleague. As he approached the airport, he circled and descended from 2,000 ft to the left downwind leg of the traffic pattern. While on the downwind leg, the pilot spotted what he thought was the (4,061-ft-long by 48-ft-wide) runway and described that he was flying into the glare of the rising sun and morning haze. When the airplane touched down the pilot immediately realized that he would not have enough landing distance to stop and elected to abort the landing. The pilot applied power and began to climb; however, after becoming airborne, he heard a “brushing” sound that he believed was foliage at the end of the pavement. The pilot then diverted to a nearby airport and made an uneventful landing. The pilot was later informed by the owner of the airplane that he had likely landed on a paved roadway near, and oriented parallel to the intended runway. Later, the pilot learned that he had struck a powerline that spanned across the roadway. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the left wing main spar had been substantially damaged ruing the accident sequence. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N89LF
- Reported as
- Cirrus Design SR20 (G6)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 8569
- Built
- 2022
- Airframe hours
- 400
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-390-C3B6, 215 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- F45 · West Palm Beach, FL
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- FL37 · Treasure Coast Airpark
- Equipment
- Data recorder, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Electronic multifunction display, Electronic primary flight display, Handheld GPS, Onboard weather, Auto-pilot, Airframe parachute, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Satellite tracking 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
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 10, 2022
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 3,500 total · 115 in this make and model · 3,400 as pilot in command · 23 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 79 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- SUA, 15 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KSUA 181051Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 26/26 A3005=
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 19, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.8 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.