- Date
- December 2, 1993, 19:27 local (Dec 3, 1993, 01:27 UTC)
- Place
- Hopkinsville, KY
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N39595Piper PA-44-180
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report September 13, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19931202045729A
- Case key
- 38714
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 IFR procedure by conducting flight below minimum descent altitude (MDA) without visual referece which resulted in an inflight collision with wires. A factor was the wire.
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 initiated a localizer approach to runway 26. A witness saw the airplane 'flying low... [And] hit a powerline.' The pilot stated that he 'saw the runway lights momentarily but then they disappeared...there was a bright flash of light at or on top of my right wing...' The automated weather observation system reported the weather as: -x 3 bkn 10 ovc 3/4 50/59/000/027. The published minimum descent altitude for that approach was 500 feet. The power line that the airplane struck was 4441 feet from the end of the runway.
Factual narrative
On Thursday, December 2, 1993, at 1927 central standard time, a Piper PA-44-180, N39595, registered to and piloted by Henry C. Clayton, sustained substantial damage during an approach to the Hopkinsville-Christian County Airport, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The pilot and two passengers were not injured. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and an IFR flight plan was filed. The flight was being conducted under 14 CFR 91.
The airplane departed Charlotte, North Carolina at 1645 eastern standard time. After completing the enroute flight and descent, the pilot was vectored for a non-precision localizer approach to runway 26 at the Hopkinsville-Christian County Airport (1M8). During this approach, the airplane struck power lines, trees and came to rest 2481 feet from the end of the runway.
Tennessee Valley Authority repair crews measured the distance from the severed power lines to the end of runway 26. This distance was 4441 feet.
During the approach, the pilot contacted Campbell Army Radar Approach Control (ARAC), which controls approaches into 1M8. Fort Campbell is located approximately 8 miles south, southwest of 1M8.
ARAC advised the pilot that the current weather at Fort Campbell was: "two hundred scattered measured ceiling five hundred overcast visibility one and one half with light drizzle and fog winds calm the altimeter three zero two six and our tower visibility about half mile..."
The pilot was asked by the approach controller, "...have you checked in up at Christian County on their weather."
The pilot of N39595 responded, "Yes I have their calling it a mile and a quarter right now with three hundred scattered and one thousand overcast."
An Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS-3) was in operation at 1M8, and the 1845 AWOS reported the weather as follows: -X 3BKN 10 OVC 3/4 50/49/000/027 (partial obscuration, 300 foot broken, 1000 foot overcast, 3/4 mile visibility, temperature 50 degrees F, dew point 49 degrees F, winds calm, altimeter 30.27.)
The published Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA) for the localizer runway 26 approach at 1M8 for the period November 11, 1993, until January 6, 1994 was: 500 feet.
A witness stated: "...I saw an airplane coming across the sky--it was real low...I thought that it was too low...the engines were making a funny noise...it hit the power line/pole. The sky lite up..."
In his report, the pilot stated:
...I observed the airport runway lights momentarily, and then they disappeared. At approximately the same time, I saw a bright flash of light at or on top of my right wing. ...I had started my missed approach...The engines apparently hadn't responded when I applied power, and we started rolling on the ground...
Aircraft
- Registration
- N39595
- Reported as
- Piper PA-44-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 44-7995014
- Airframe hours
- 2,194
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-E1A6D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Henry C. Clayton
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 9, 1993
- Departed
- CLT · Charlotte, NC
- Destination
- 1M8
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 1M8 · Hopkinsville-Christian, runway 26, 5,002 × 75 ft
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
- 68
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,724 total · 2,145 in this make and model · 86 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 0.75 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 300 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HOP
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.