Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Thief River Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Thief River Fls, Minnesota 56701
Sunday, March 17, 1991 19:49 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
DURING ARRIVAL, THE PLT WAS ADZD THAT THE 1745 CST WX WAS 500' BKN, 1000' OVC, VIS 3-1/2 MI WITH FOG. HE MADE AN ILS RWY 31 APCH, BUT AT 1928 CST, HE RPRTD A MISSED APCH. HE STATED THAT HE HAD SEEN 'THE LIGHTS' & REQUESTED ANOTHER APCH. THE ACFT WAS VECTORED FOR A 2ND ILS. WHEN IT WAS ABOUT 5 MI FROM THE OUTER MARKER (FAF), THE PLT WAS CLRD FOR THE APCH & TO CHANGE TO AN ADZY FREQ. HOWEVER, ABOUT 3 MI SE OF THE FAF, THE ACFT FLEW INTO LEVEL TERRAIN, WHILE STILL ON A WESTERLY HDG. MIN DSCNT ALT (MDA) FOR THIS SEGMENT OF THE APCH WAS 2700' MSL; THE ARPT ELEV WAS 1116'). NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE AIRFRAME OR ENG WAS FOUND. THE 1945 CST WX AT THE ARPT HAD DETERIORATED TO 200' OVC & 1/4 MI VIS WITH FOG.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
IMPROPER IFR PROCEDURE OF THE PILOT, WHILE INTERCEPTING THE ILS LOCALIZER, BY NOT MAINTIANING THE MINIMUM DESCENT ALTITUDE (MDA) FOR THAT SEGMENT OF THE APPROACH.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/17/1991 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1949 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | THIEF RIVER FLS |
| Event State | MINNESOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 56701 |
| Event Date Year | 1991 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | THIEF RIVER REGIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TVF |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 1116 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 1945 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TVF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 200 |
| 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) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 1 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 0 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | FAA |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 479 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 18 1991 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 845 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 44060 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2000 9:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8290Y |
| NTSB Number | CHI91FA108 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-30 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-30 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 30-1428 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | |
| Aircraft Owner State | |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | JUNE I. STEIGER |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1404 BIRCHLANE DR |
| Operator City | THIEF RIVER FLS |
| Operator State | MN |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 56701 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BZN |
| Departure City | BOZEMAN |
| Departure State | MT |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1415 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 31 |
| Runway Length | 6503 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |