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CHI84LA333

1984-08-03 · BLOOMINGTON, Illinois, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport BMI

N5881Z has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (ZIPLINE INTERNATIONAL INC P2 ZIP), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

PLT DEPARTED ON LOCAL FLT SHORTLY BEFORE THE TWR CLOSED. PLT RECALLED FINAL TWR TRANSMISSION INCLUDED ALTIMETER SETTING WHICH WAS A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE ON HIS INSTRUMENT. ON RETURN TO THE ARPT, 35 MINS AFTER DEPARTURE, FOG AND HAZE HAD REDUCED VISIBILITY TO ABOUT 2 MILES. ON TURN TO FINAL, ACFT DESCENDED ABOUT 400 FT BELOW NORMAL APPROACH PATH. LANDING LIGHTS ILLUMINATED PWR LINES AHEAD. PLT FELT THAT AN EVASIVE PULL-UP MANEUVER WOULD NOT ALLOW CLEARANCE SO POWER WAS ADDED AND ATTEMPT MADE TO FLY UNDER THE LINES WITHOUT A VISUAL GROUND REFERENCE. THE ACFT IMPACTED THE GROUND IN A CORN FIELD. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1984_CHI84LA333.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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