Airplane Went Into The Water On Final Approach, Resulting In Three Fatalities

Flying in instrument conditions at night over water will always be challenging. In an accident which occurred over Thanksgiving weekend last year, one such flight ended with the airplane in the water in a bayou about a mile shore of the runway at  Destin, FL, and three people fatally injured. The NTSB on Tuesday issued its probable cause report for the accident, saying the pilot made improper decisions on approach which led to the accident.

According to the probable cause report, the instrument-rated pilot was executing a night instrument approach when the airplane impacted the water. The published approach minimums for the area navigation/global positioning system approach were 460-foot ceiling and one-mile visibility. Recorded air traffic control voice and radar data indicated that prior to the approach the pilot had turned to an approximately 180-degree heading and appeared to be heading in the direction of another airport. The controller reassigned the pilot a heading in order to intercept the final approach.

The airplane, a Piper PA-46-350P (Malibu Mirage), was located in the water approximately 5,000 feet from the runway threshold. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the left main landing gear was in the retracted position and the right main and nose landing gear were in the extended position. Examination of the left main landing gear actuator revealed no mechanical anomalies. The pilot had likely just commanded the landing gear to the down position and the landing gear was in transit. It is further possible that, as the gear was in transit, the airplane impacted the water in a left-wing and nose-down attitude and the left gear was forced to a gear-up position.

The pilot, age 47, held a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine land and instrument airplane. His most recent application for an FAA third-class medical certificate was issued on February 18, 2009. The pilot's flight time log book was recovered and the last entry was dated November 20, 2010. At that time, his total flight experience was 407.5 hours; of which, 33.7 hours were in the same make and model as the accident airplane. According to documentation, the pilot had completed a flight review and instrument competency review on November 6, 2010.

The board said the probable cause for the accident was "Controlled flight into water due to the pilot's improper descent below the published minimum descent altitude."

FMI: www.ntsb.gov