BFO92FA069
1992-05-18 · PRINCETON, New Jersey, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport 39N
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CLEARANCE OVER AN OBSTACLE. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE A TAILWIND, DARK NIGHT, AND PREMATURE RAISING OF THE FLAPS.
Factual narrative
THE AIRPLANE STRUCK A 50 FOOT HIGH TREE AT NIGHT, 1200 FEET BEYOND THE DEPARTURE END OF RUNWAY 28. THE AIRPLANE WAS HEADED WESTBOUND. THERE WERE NO KNOWN WITNESSES TO THE ACCIDENT. THE PILOT OF ANOTHER AIRPLANE WAS TRYING TO LAND USING RUNWAY 28, BUT WAS TWICE UNSUCCESSFUL, WHICH SHE ATTRIBUTED TO A TAILWIND, SO SHE LANDED ON THE FIRST TRY USING RUNWAY 10. AFTER HER SECOND TRY TO LAND ON RUNWAY 28, SHE NOTICED ANOTHER AIRPLANE, ALSO DOING A GO AROUND AFTER AN UNSUCCESSFUL LANDING ATTEMPT ON RUNWAY 28. SHE RADIOED THE PILOT TO ADVISE HIM TO USE RUNWAY 10, AND HE REPLIED WITH AN UNCLEAR TRANSMISSION WHICH ABRUPTLY ENDED. THE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE PILOT HAD CONDUCTED NIGHT FLIGHT AT THIS AIRPORT FOUR TIMES BEFORE. HE HAD FOUR HOURS OF TOTAL NIGHT FLIGHT TIME. THE INVESTIGATION DID NOT REVEAL EVIDENCE OF MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION AND THE FLAPS WERE EXTENDED FIVE DEGREES. ACCORDING TO CESSNA, DURING A GO AROUND, THE FLAPS SHOULD BE REDUCED TO 10 DEGREES UNTIL OBSTACLES HAVE BEEN CLEARED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1992_BFO92FA069.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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