Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Westmoreland County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Latrobe, Pennsylvania 15650
Friday, May 17, 1985 20:20 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
DRG AN IFR ARRIVAL, THE ACFT WAS VECTORED FOR AN NDB RWY 23 APCH TO THE WESTMORELAND COUNTY ARPT. AT THE NDB FINAL APCH FIX (8.1 MI FROM THE RWY), THE CREW TURNED INBOUND & CONTD TO THE ARPT. THEY CONTACTED THE TOWER & REPORTED OVER THE ILS OUTER MARKER (AN INTERMEDIATE POINT ON THE NDB FINAL APCH, 3.9 MI FROM THE RWY). THE TOWER ISSUED THE LOCAL LANDING ADVISORIES & CLEARED THE ACFT TO LAND. MOMENTS AFTER THE COPLT ADVISED THE CAPT THAT THEY WERE 15 SEC FROM THE MISSED APCH PT, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES. IMPACT OCCURRED 3.8 MI SE OF THE ARPT AT THE MIN DSCNT ALT (MDA) OF 1900 FT MSL. AN EXAM OF THE ACFT RECORDS INDICATED A RECURRING & CURRENT SQUAWK CONCERNING THE HSI SLAVING SYS. JUST BEFORE BEGINNINGTHE APCH, THE LATROBE WIND HAD CHANGED FROM 230 DEG AT 4 KTS (A HEADWIND) TO A STRONG QUARTERING TAIL WIND. DRG ARRIVAL THE CREW WERE ADVISED THE WIND WAS FROM 340 DEG AT 18 KTS. THEY HAD FIGURED THEIR TIMING TO THE MISSED APCH PT BY USING A GND SPEED OF 120 KTS. EARLIER THAT DAY, THE SAME CREW & ACFT HAD TERMINATED THE SAME NDB APCH, 1 MI EAST OF THE ARPT.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/17/1985 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 2020 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | LATROBE |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 15650 |
| Event Date Year | 1985 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | WESTMORELAND COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LBE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 4 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 165 |
| Airport Elevation | 1161 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Partial - limited by briefer |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1945 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 345 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LBE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1161 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 32 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 800 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Partial Obscuration |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 4 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 18 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1161 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 5 |
| Injury Total All | 7 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1108 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 17 1985 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 28450 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2001 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N66892 |
| NTSB Number | NYC85FA125 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| 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-31-350 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-31-350 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 31-7405191 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7000 |
| 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 | 10 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 4 1985 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 45 |
| Airframe Hours | 9567 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CUMBERLAND AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 1611 |
| Aircraft Owner City | CUMBERLAND |
| Aircraft Owner State | MD |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 21502 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | CUMBERLAND AIRLINES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | CBEA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PIT |
| Departure City | PITTSBURGH |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1049 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | LBE |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2001 8:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 23 |
| Runway Length | 5501 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |