- Date
- March 4, 1989, 16:52 local (Mar 5, 1989, 00:52 UTC)
- Place
- Bellingham, WA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N79PKCessna 185
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 2, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890304003079A
- Case key
- 40984
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 compensate for the loss of lift due to ice accumulation on the wings, his failure to control the rate of descent, and poor inflight decision making. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's fatigue.
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 and passenger stated that ice had accumulated on the airplane during the flight. The pilot stated that he was fatigued from the long flight. The passenger estimated the ice was about 1 to 2 inches thick and that on the base to final turn the airplane banked to approximately 30 degrees. The rate of descent increased and the pilot was unable to arrest the descent before the airplane landed hard short of the runway. The airplane struck the approach lights before coming to rest.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N79PK
- Reported as
- Cessna 185
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503837
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Reginald T. Pfeiffer
- Registered owner
- Spring, Dale M.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- HIO · Hillsboro, OR
- Airport
- BLI · Bellingham, runway 16, 5,000 × 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
- 51
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,900 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BLI
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.