Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Easton Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Forks Township, Pennsylvania 18042
Friday, February 9, 1996 20:51 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot/owner had flown a round-trip between his base airport and another airport during the day. He flew another round-trip that evening. During the return leg, the airplane struck the top of an unlighted 928 feet mean sea level (MSL) tower 2 miles from the destination airport. The destination airport field elevation is 399 feet MSL. The recommended pattern altitude for the airport was 1,400 feet MSL. The tower lighting was listed out of service by a NOTAM issued 15 days prior to the accident. There was no record of the pilot receiving a weather briefing or NOTAMs. No temporary repairs to restore the tower lighting had been initiated. The 928 feet MSL tower was depicted on the VFR navigation chart with the symbol for group obstructions. Another 775 feet MSL tower was positioned on the same hill, about 2,100 feet east of the 928 feet MSL tower. The top of that tower was illuminated by a single flashing red light. The FAA did not have the authority to deny or approve construction of obstructions to air navigation, or to mandate the marking and lighting of the obstructions, or the repair of lighting outages. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) did require marking and lighting of radio towers with licensed FCC transmitters. The FCC did not publish a time limit in which lighting outage had to be repaired.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain a proper altitude, and insufficient obstruction lighting requirements established by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/9/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 2051 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | FORKS TOWNSHIP |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 18042 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | EASTON |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | N43 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 160 |
| Airport Elevation | 399 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2050 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 260 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ABE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 394 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 3 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 307 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 9 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2125 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 9:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4655F |
| NTSB Number | NYC96FA061 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | P206A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | P206A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | P2060255 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 12 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 39 |
| Airframe Hours | 1853 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DONALD C. CORY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 26 N. 4TH STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | EASTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 18042 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | N40 |
| Departure City | PITTSTOWN |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2040 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | N43 |
| Destination City | EASTON |
| Destination State | PA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |