Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Montgomery County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879
Friday, October 4, 1985 19:08 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE PLT WAS CLRD FOR A VOR RWY 14 APCH. ON APCH, HE RPRTD AT THE SLEET INTXN (A FIX ON THE NDB APCH). THE ACFT WAS THEN SEEN FLYING OVR THE ARPT ON AN EASTERLY HDG. UNICOM OPERATOR SAID HE THEN HEARD THE PLT CALL "TURNING FINAL." HOWEVER, BFR LNDG, THE ACFT HIT TREES & CRASHED APRX .6 MI EAST OF THE ARPT. NO PREIMPACT MECHANICAL PROBLEMS WERE FND. WITNESSESESTD A 200' CEILING, VIS 1/4 TO 1/2 MI. A WX STUDY INDCD THE CLD BASES WERE NR 600' MSL, THE VIS (BLO CLDS) WAS LESS 1 MI. MIN DSCNT ALT (MDA) & CIRCLING MIN ALT FOR THE APCH WERE 1180'. ARPT ELEV WAS 540'. DRG ARR, BFR REACHING THE VOR INITIAL APCH FIX (IAF) (17.3 MI NW OF ARPT), THE BWI CTLR CLRD THE PLT TO THE MIN VECTORING ALT (400' BLO THE IAF ALT), BUT DELAYED ADVISING FOR 8-1/2 MIN THAT RADAR CONTACT WAS LOST. AFTER REACHING THE IAF, THE PLT DELAYED TURNING OUTBND TWD THE HOLDING PATTERN. HE CONTD THE TURN & INTERCEPTED THE INBND COURSE FOR THE APCH APRX 15 MI NW OF THE ARPT. ARTCC RADAR (NOT AVAILABLE TO THE CTLR) SHOWED THE ACFT TRACKED RGT OF COURSE UNTIL CONTACT WAS LOST APRX 4 MI NW OF ARPT.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/4/1985 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1908 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | GAITHERSBURG |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 20879 |
| Event Date Year | 1985 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | MONTGOMERY COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | GAI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 6 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 125 |
| Airport Elevation | 533 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| 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 | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 3 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2966 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 4 1985 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2050 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 32499 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 10 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2106X |
| NTSB Number | BFO86FA002 |
| 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-32RT-300T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-32RT-30 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 79-87121 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 1 1984 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 19 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DEB. CO. INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | BOX 3777 |
| Aircraft Owner City | SILVER SPRING |
| Aircraft Owner State | MD |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20901 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | WILLIAM P. MCINTOSH |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 8918 TUCKERMAN LANE |
| Operator City | POTOMAC |
| Operator State | MD |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 20854 |
| 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 | BED |
| Departure City | BEDFORD |
| Departure State | MA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1601 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | GAI |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 10 2001 4:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 14 |
| Runway Length | 4235 |
| Runway Width | 73 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |