Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Greenlee County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Clifton, Arizona 85533
Thursday, November 30, 2000 19:44 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The twin-engine airplane impacted a utility pole about 1,250 feet short of the runway while conducting an approach during dark night light conditions. A witness located at the airport observed the airplane make three attempts to land, and on the fourth, the airplane veered to the left and burst into flames. He added he had turned his vehicle lights on at the approach end of the runway so the pilot would be able to land. The same witness indicated he observed the runway lights prior to the accident when another aircraft landed earlier in the evening. The airport utilized a pilot control lighting system, which requires the pilot to key the communication radio mike seven times over the common traffic advisory frequency within 5 seconds to illuminate the runway edge lights on their highest intensity. The runway edge lights would then remain illuminated for a period of 15 minutes from the most recent time of activation. Another pilot, who utilized the airport on the day of the accident, reported no discrepancies with the lighting system 30 minutes prior to and following the accident. A postaccident examination of the communication radios could not determine which frequency the pilot had selected. The aircraft's altimeter face was located in the wreckage and was set so that it was reading approximately 150 feet higher than the aircraft's actual altitude. Another airport, located 22 miles from the accident site, utilized continuous runway lighting between sunset and sunrise.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's improper in-flight decision to attempt a landing on an unlit runway at night, and his failure to maintain the proper glide path and clearance from obstacles while on final approach, which resulted in the collision with a utility pole. A contributing factor was his failure to divert to an airport with constant runway lighting.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/30/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1944 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Clifton |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85533 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 325739N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1091332W |
| Event Location Airport | Greenlee County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CFT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 280 |
| Airport Elevation | 3811 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1950 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 257 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SAD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3811 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.1 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14448 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 30 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7901R |
| NTSB Number | LAX01FA049 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | BE-55-D55 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | D55 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | TE-744 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5300 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert G. Terrel |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Gilbert |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85296 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SOW |
| Departure City | Show Low |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1845 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | CFT |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 23 2003 2:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 7 |
| Runway Length | 4970 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |