- Date
- January 20, 1987, 18:55 local (22:55 UTC)
- Place
- Highgate, VT
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3496XMooney M20C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report January 11, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870120000859A
- Case key
- 30483
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
According to the surviving pax, a snowshower was enctrd, so the plt reversed course & diverted to another arpt. Drg a ngt apch to lnd, the pax noted a white light on the left side of the rwy. (A VASI light sys was installed for that rwy.) The plt aborted the lndg, but drg a go-around, the acft struck treetops aprx 1500' beyond the dep end of the rwy & crashed. No preimpact part failure or malfuction was evident. The lndg gear & gear handle were fnd in the down psn, the flaps were in a retracted psn & the eng ctls were fnd at full power settings. Only 3.4 hrs of the plt's flt time was rprtd in hi performance or complex acft & no endorsement to operate such acft was fnd.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3496X
- Reported as
- Mooney M20C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3427
- Airframe hours
- 3,200
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Abbas Ahmadirmabadi
- Registered owner
- Douglas P. Combs
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 1, 1986 · 30 hours before
- Departed
- MPV · Montpelier, VT
- Destination
- Montreal,Canada, OF
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- 1B7 · Franklin County, runway 1, 3,000 × 60 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
- 26
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 141 total · 71 as pilot in command · 67 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 19 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.