- Date
- November 11, 2005, 19:30 local (Nov 12, 2005, 00:30 UTC)
- Place
- Montgomery, NY
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1813WBeech F33A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report March 28, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20051111032049A
- Case key
- 63001
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 misjudgment of the landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing short of the runway. Factors included the night lighting conditions, the time-out and reestablishment of the high intensity runway lighting, and the pilot's failure to go around.
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 pilot was making a night visual approach to an airport when, on short final, the pilot-activated runway lights timed out. The pilot re-activated the lights, which came back on at a high intensity that "adversely affected [her] night vision and depth perception." During the time the lights were out, the airplane descended below the glide path, and by the time she realized it, the pilot felt that she could not have successfully executed a go-around because "the aircraft would have most likely lost lift and stalled." According to a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, the airplane then landed "short and hard." No airplane mechanical anomalies were noted.
Factual narrative
The pilot was making a night visual approach to an airport when, on short final, the pilot-activated runway lights timed out. The pilot re-activated the lights, which came back on at a high intensity that "adversely affected [her] night vision and depth perception." During the time the lights were out, the airplane descended below the glide path, and by the time she realized it, the pilot felt that she could not have successfully executed a go-around because "the aircraft would have most likely lost lift and stalled." According to a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, the airplane then landed "short and hard." No airplane mechanical anomalies were noted.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1813W
- Reported as
- Beech F33A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- CE413
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Shirley A. Onacilla
- Registered owner
- Shirley's Express, LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- AIY · Atlantic City, NJ
- Destination
- MGJ · Montgomery, NY
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
- 53
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 1,022 total · 379 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.