- Date
- June 6, 1989, 23:15 local (Jun 7, 1989, 04:15 UTC)
- Place
- Pine Bluff, AR
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N63535Cessna 172
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 19, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890606014489A
- Case key
- 34804
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 in-flight planning/decision by the pilot by continuing the approach when the runway lights did not activate. Contributing factors were: dark night and soft 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 said that during an ILS rwy 17 arrival at night, he was unable to activate the runway lights by keying his radio. Also, he noted that the rotating beacon was not operating. He stated that his instruments showed the acft was on the centerline of the localizer, so he continued the ILS apch. However, the landing occurred about 50 to 75 ft left of the runway on soft terrain which resulted in a nose over. The arpt was in VFR conditions. About 1 hr after the accident, the arpt manager checked the radio activated runway lights and found them to work properly.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N63535
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275448
- Airframe hours
- 2,628
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Kummer, Richard
- Registered owner
- Kummer, Richard
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Departed
- ADS · Addison, TX
- Destination
- PBF
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- PBF · Grider Field, runway 17, 5,998 × 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
- 25
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 161 total · 39 in this make and model · 118 as pilot in command · 44 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PBF, 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.