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BFO93FA016

1992-12-10 · ELKRIDGE, Maryland, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport BWI

N7770B has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (PIPER PA-28-151, built 1974), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO PROPERLY SECURE THE CARGO, WHICH ALLOWED A SHIFT IN THE CENTER OF GRAVITY DURING A MISSED APPROACH MANEUVER AND RESULTED IN SUBSEQUENT LOSS OF AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND FLYING SPEED. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO ASSURE THE AIRPLANE WAS LOADED WITHIN ITS PROPER WEIGHT AND BALANCE LIMITATIONS.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT SUPERVISED THE LOADING OF THE AIRPLANE. ACCORDING TO INFO FROM A PERSON THAT HELPED LOAD THE PLANE, THE BILL OF LADING, AND ACTUAL WEIGHTS AND MEASUREMENTS OF THE CARGO AFTER THE ACCIDENT, THE PLANE WAS LOADED TO A GROSS WEIGHT OF 11,979 LBS WITH THE CG 2.7 INCHES BEHIND THE AFT LIMIT. AT THE DESTINATION, THE FLIGHT WAS VECTORED FOR AN ILS RUNWAY 10 APPROACH. ABOUT 3 MI FROM THE RUNWAY, THE PILOT WAS TOLD TO MAKE A MISSED APPROACH DUE TO INADEQUATE SEPARATION FROM TRAFFIC. THE PILOT ACKNOWLEDGED, BUT SOON THEREAFTER, RADAR CONTACT WITH THE PLANE WAS LOST. WITNESSES SAW THE PLANE DESCEND FROM A LOW CLOUD LAYER BEFORE IT CRASHED. ONE WITNESS SAID ITS WINGS WERE MOVING FROM SIDE TO SIDE AND THE PLANE WAS FALLING FASTER THAN IT WAS MOVING FORWARD. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE PLANE HAD IMPACTED IN A FLAT ATTITUDE WITH LITTLE FORWARD MOVEMENT. FOUR CARGO STRAPS WERE FOUND LOOSE WITH NO SIGN OF TENSILE OVERLOAD; 3 OTHERS AND A RESTRAINING BOARD WERE FOUND LOOSE AS IF THEY HAD NOT BEEN USED. NO PREIMPACT MECHANICAL PROBLEM WAS FOUND. THE WIND WAS FROM 090 DEG AT 21 GUSTING 32 KTS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_BFO93FA016.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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