Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
The Florida Keys Marathon Arpt Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Marathon, Florida 33050
Saturday, March 29, 2014 20:17 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that after takeoff the flight proceeded IFR towards the destination airport (The Florida Keys Marathon Airport), Marathon, Florida. He cancelled his IFR clearance, and performed the pre-landing checklist. While on the base leg over water during the dark night, he became distracted by the failure of the landing light. With the landing gear and flaps extended for landing but the power set to 15 inches of manifold pressure, he did not recognize the airplane was descending. When the airplane impacted the water he thought they were at 1,000 feet. He also stated that he attempted to activate the runway lights using the common traffic advisory frequency but stated he could not see them. In hindsight he stated that he must have been too low at that time to see the runway lights.
According to the County of Monroe Assistant Director of Airports, the runway lights at The Florida Keys Marathon Airport come on automatically at night and remain on "step 1." Being a 14 CFR Part 139 airport, a complete night inspection is performed each Friday and Monday, and each working day in the morning a continuous inspection is performed on the runway lighting circuit. As noted in the Daily Self Inspection Reports, the airfield runway lights were functioning properly during the course of the weekend and there were no issues with the runway lighting system. The runway end identifier lights for runway 7 were out of service at that time.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's distraction in the cockpit while on a visual approach over water during a dark night resulting in the airplane descending until impact with the water.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/29/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2017 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Marathon |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33050 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 244524N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0810048W |
| Event Location Airport | The Florida Keys Marathon Arpt |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MTH |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 3 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 48 |
| Airport Elevation | 5 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1953 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 228 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MTH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 24 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KMTH 292353Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM BKN090 BKN100 |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32574 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2014 2:21PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8985M |
| NTSB Number | ERA14CA175 |
| 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 | S35 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-7314 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3300 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5025 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | THARP JAMES R |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | FRANKFORT |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 60423-7778 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | THARP JAMES R |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | FRANKFORT |
| Operator State | IL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 60423-7778 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | X23 |
| Departure City | Umatilla |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1832 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MTH |
| Destination City | Marathon |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2014 2:21PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 25 |
| Runway Length | 5008 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |