- Date
- October 1, 1993, 21:00 local (Oct 2, 1993, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Mt. Gilead, OH
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N736RZCessna 172
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19931001040849A
- Case key
- 38696
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 improper inflight decision to conduct a night landing at an airport without runway lights, and the subsequent misalignment with the runway and collision with an object.
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 could not activate the runway lights during a night landing. He made two passes over the runway to see if the runway was clear. He then elected to land on the runway without the runway lights available. He had completed the landing and during the roll out the left horizontal stabilizer struck the VASI light.
Factual narrative
On Friday, October 1, 1993, at about 2100 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172, N736RZ, collided with a VASI light while landing at the Mt. Gilead Airport, Mt. Gilead, Ohio. The airplane was substantially damaged. The pilot and the three passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight was being conducted under 14 CFR 91.
The pilot had completed a night landing and heard a "thump." After deplaning, he observed damage to the left horizontal stabilizer. Further investigation revealed that the airplane had collided with VASI lights located off the side of the runway in the vicinity of the touchdown zone.
According to the pilot's statement on the NTSB Form 6120.1/2:
...runway lights not on UNICOM frequency, was not able to activate lights. Made 2 passes to check runway, landed runway 28...on flair landing lights raised, not illuminating runway. On roll out horizontal stabilizer struck VASI light...
Aircraft
- Registration
- N736RZ
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1722741
- Airframe hours
- 1,770
- Engine
- Continental IO-360-K, 195 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Judson R. Ashley
- Registered owner
- Mike Walsh
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 2, 1993 · 50 hours before
- Departed
- 0A9 · Elizabethtown, TN
- Airport
- 4I9 · Morrow County, runway 28, 3,497 × 65 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 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 553 total · 91 in this make and model · 490 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 240° at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 64 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.