- Date
- March 22, 1989, 22:44 local (Mar 23, 1989, 03:44 UTC)
- Place
- Jacksonville, FL
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N77BRPiper Aerostar 600
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report September 5, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890322006709A
- Case key
- 32283
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
Improper use of the IFR procedure by the pilot, his failure to maintain a proper glide path, and his failure to identify the decision height.
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
Drg arrival, the plt was clrd for an ILS rwy 7 apch. Also, he was adzd of a DC-9 that was 4 mi ahead & was told to use caution for wake turbulence. As the acft was on final apch, it descended below the ILS glide slope & subsequently hit trees & crashed about 1.8 mi short of the rwy. No preimpact part failure or malfunction of the acft or engs was found that would have resulted in an acdnt. Also, there were no reported problems with the ILS system & it tested normal after the acdnt. The plt held a commercial plt certificate which was good for single engine land acft; his multi-engine privileges were authorized as a private plt, only. An NTSB performance study showed the acft was 2 min & 57 sec behind the DC-9. Radar data indcd the acft did not exceed a bank angle of 32 deg & no excessive g-values were evident drg the apch.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N77BR
- Reported as
- Piper Aerostar 600 (AEROSTAR 6)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 6007961193
- Airframe hours
- 3,891
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1F5, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Top Flight Air Service
- Registered owner
- Top Flight Air Service Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · March 20, 1989 · 14 hours before
- Departed
- ATL · Atlanta, GA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- JAX · Jacksonville Intl, runway 7, 8,000 × 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
- 45
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 2,575 total · 1,250 in this make and model · 2,400 as pilot in command · 260 in the last 90 days · 93 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 40° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 400 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- JAX, 1 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.