- Date
- April 17, 1992, 22:25 local (Apr 18, 1992, 02:25 UTC)
- Place
- Lexington, KY
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 4 uninjured; on the ground: 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N27465Fairchild SA-227AC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report October 15, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920417010349A
- Case key
- 37145
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
Attempted suicide by the vehicle driver.
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 airplane was taxiing to the gate after landing when the flight crew observed a vehicle approaching them from ahead on the taxiway. They stopped the airplane. The vehicle struck the airplane, passing through the right engine propeller arc, between the fuselage and right engine. The driver had gained entry onto the taxiway by driving through a locked gate and breaking the fence. When interviewed, the vehicle driver said he had been drinking and wanted to kill himself.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N27465
- Reported as
- Fairchild SA-227AC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- AC755B
- Airframe hours
- 2,624
- Engine
- Garrett TPE-331-11U, 1,000 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Mesaba Airlines
- Registered owner
- Ccd Air Trinity Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · April 8, 1992 · 50 hours before
- Departed
- DTW · Detroit, MI
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- LEX · Blue Grass, runway 22, 7,003 × 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
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 3,675 total · 375 in this make and model · 2,100 as pilot in command · 120 in the last 90 days · 60 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 160° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LEX, 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.