- Date
- November 8, 1994, 19:00 local (Nov 9, 1994, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Dawson Springs, KY
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5483QCessna 150L
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report June 29, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19941108037879A
- Case key
- 38896
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 failure to maintain adequate obstacle clearance. Other related factors are night conditions and the pilot's improper inflight planning/decision.
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, during an night flight, was unsuccesful at locating the destination, tradewater airport (8M7) so he deviated to and landed at princeton-caldwell county airport. There he became concerned about his airplane being unsecured at an unattended airport and the threat of inclement weather forecasted to occur overnight. He arranged for a friend to use the headlights of a car to illuminate the grass strip at 8M7, so the pilot could return and land. The pilot flew back, circled the airport, spotted the headlights, and began the approach. According to the pilot, 'just prior to crossing the threshold markers, I saw the roof of the automobile in the beam of my landing light, and felt contact and sensed the airplane tumbling and a second contact when the airplane came to rest upside down.' According to the FAA, the main wheel struck the back window of the car. The pilot said the accident could have been prevented if he had not been so anxious to fly the airplane to 8M7 where it would be hangared.
Factual narrative
On Tuesday, November 8, 1994, at 1900 central standard time, a Cessna 150L, N5483Q, piloted by and registered to William L. Lipford, was destroyed during a landing at the Tradewater Airport, Dawson Springs, Kentucky. The pilot received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight was being conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
The pilot was landing on runway 18, which does not have runway lights. Automobile lights were being used to illuminate the runway for the pilot. In his report, the pilot stated:
Just prior to crossing the threshold marker I saw the roof of the automobile in the beam of my landing light and felt contact and sensed the airplane tumbling...the airplane came to rest up side down.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5483Q
- Reported as
- Cessna 150L
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 150-73383
- Engine
- Continental O-200A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- William L. Lipford
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 2MO · Princeton, KY
- Destination
- 8M7
- Airport
- 8M7 · Tradewater, runway 18, 2,875 × 80 ft, grass/turf
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
- 69
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 10,615 total · 560 in this make and model · 10,435 as pilot in command · 94 in the last 90 days · 53 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 180° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- 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.