Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Somerset Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Somerville, New Jersey 07921
Sunday, July 16, 2006 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
As the airplane approached the destination airport at night, the pilot cancelled his instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. On final approach, the pilot lost visual contact with the runway environment when the airplane entered a "dense ground fog bank" approximately 100 feet above ground level and 1/4 mile from the runway threshold. The pilot was "blinded" by the reflection of the airplane's landing light in the fog, initiated a go-around, but the airplane struck a tree and impacted terrain seconds later. The pilot stated that he obtained the current Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) report minutes prior to the accident, and the field was "within VFR parameters." The pilot was also aware of the possibility of ground fog. The meteorological aerodrome report (METAR) for the time of the accident included 1 mile visibility in fog, with vertical visibility of 100 feet. The METARs for the preceding 4 hours showed the visibility to be equal or less than 2 miles due to fog and mist.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's continued flight into known adverse weather.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/16/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 15 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Somerville |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 07921 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 403736N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0744012W |
| Event Location Airport | Somerset Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KSMQ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 105 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ksmq |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 105 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Partial Obscuration |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Indefinite (V V) |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20458 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 17 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 3 2006 2:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Allentown |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5363P |
| NTSB Number | NYC06CA177 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | A36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E 980 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Feb 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 4100 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lorne B Sheren |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 404 |
| Aircraft Owner City | New Vernon |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 07976 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KHTO |
| Departure City | East Hampton |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2245 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | KSMQ |
| Destination City | Somerville |
| Destination State | NJ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 31 2006 11:28AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MUZD |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 12 |
| Runway Length | 3000 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |