- Date
- January 24, 1991, 23:00 local (Jan 25, 1991, 04:00 UTC)
- Place
- Fernandina Bch, FL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N31HLPiper PA-31-B-310
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Not reported
- Status
- Completed · report January 25, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910124001129A
- Case key
- 32815
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
Delay by the pilot to perform a missed approach and failure to correct the descent before impact with terrain.
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 plt was conducting a circle to land apch & stated that when the flt was about 3 miles from the arpt, encountered rain & fog. He observed a high rate of descent occurred & added power to go around with the gear down & flaps at 10 degrees. The acft impacted the ground 2.4 miles from the rwy & nosed over in a marsh. The plt stated that there was no eng failure or malfunction.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N31HL
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-B-310 (PA-31-B-31)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-7401214
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-A2C, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Island Aviation Services, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Hal Aircraft, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- JAX · Jacksonville, FL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 55J · Fernandina Bch Municipal, runway 4
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
- 50
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 4,072 total · 1,371 in this make and model · 3,701 as pilot in command · 127 in the last 90 days · 31 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Not reported
- Wind
- 350° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 400 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- JAX, 13 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.