- Date
- January 19, 1990, 17:09 local (23:09 UTC)
- Place
- Little Rock, AR
- Injuries
- 7 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N46TEGrumman G1159
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report January 3, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900119000749A
- Case key
- 35019
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
Failure of the pilot-in-command to follow IFR procedures (maintain an ILS glide path or initiate a missed approach) during an IFR arrival to the airport. Factors related to the accident were: unfavorable weather conditions, an erroneous wind indication from the low level windshear alert system (llwas), which resulted in an inaccurate weather (wind) observation, and failure of the pilots to take adequate remedial action.
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, hvy rain showers were rprtd west of arpt. At the arpt, the wx was abt 200' obscd with fog & drizzle, wnd was easterly at 5 to 7 KTS. The plts intended to lnd on rwy 22, but after being told the wnd was gstg to 27 KTS, they elected to lnd on rwy 4. The actual wnd was not gsty. The erroneous gst indcn was fm a malfunction of the llwas. On final apch for an ILS rwy 4 apch, the flt was adzd the wnd was fm 030 deg at 5 KTS & the RVR was 1800 ft. min RVR for the apch was 2400'. The crew acknowledged; 22 sec ltr, the ELT actvtd as the acft touched dwn 1600' shrt of rwy 4 & hit apch lgtg sys, railroad tracks & a fence. Inv revealed the acft dscndd thru windshear. While mnvrg onto final apch; gnd spd varied btn 320 & 190 KTS as acft was mnvrd thru tailwind to headwind nr faf. CVR data verified a delay in dscnt fm 4000' to 1900' bfr rchg faf & that the gear warning horn sounded bfr extn of gear & spd brakes. There was evidence of low eng RPM drg impact, but no preimpact mech prblm was fnd. Each plt had over 10,000 hrs of flt time, but only abt 160 hrs each in jet acft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N46TE
- Reported as
- Grumman G1159
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 0243
- Airframe hours
- 5,812
- Engine
- Rolls-Royce SPEY 511-8, 11,400 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Executive/Corporate · Part 91
- Operator
- Tennessee Eastman
- Registered owner
- Tennessee Eastman Kodak
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · January 10, 1990 · 31 hours before
- Departed
- GGG · Longview, TX
- Destination
- LIT
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- LIT · Adams Field, runway 4, 7,173 × 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
- 59
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 18,609 total · 160 in this make and model · 180 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- Variable at 6 knots
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LIT
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.