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CHI88FA046

1988-01-18 · CARBONDALE, Illinois, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport MDH

N40265 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (FAIRCHILD M-62A-4, built 1941), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

SHORTLY AFTER REPORTING THE OUTER MARKER WHILE EXECUTING AN ILS RUNWAY 18 APPROACH IN ACTUAL INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS, THE AIRCRAFT DEVIATED LEFT OF THE LOCALIZER CENTERLINE. AT A POSITION APPROXIMATELY 1/2 MILE OUTSIDE THE MIDDLE MARKER AND ABOUT 1/4 MILE LEFT OF THE LOCALIZER CENTERLINE, THE AIRCRAFT DESCENDED INTO A WOODED AREA ON AN EASTERLY HEADING. THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED THE TREES AND THEN THE TERRAIN IN A SLIGHTLY LEFT BANK AND SLIGHTLY NOSE LOW ATTITUDE. ENGINE EXAMINATION AND TEARDOWN REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF PRE-IMPACT MALFUNCTION. A FLIGHT CHECK OF THE ILS RUNWAY 18 WAS PERFORMED THE NEXT DAY AND INDICATED THE SYSTEM WAS FUNCTIONING NORMALLY. INSPECTION OF THE AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTS DID NOT DISCLOSE ANY MALFUNCTIONS. THE PILOT WAS IN CONTACT WITH ATC AND DID NOT REPORT ANY PROBLEMS BEFORE THE IMPACT OCCURRED. ALL PILOT AND AIRCRAFT RECORDS WERE DESTROYED BY POST-IMPACT FIRE. PILOT'S TOTAL INSTRUMENT FLYING EXPERIENCE WAS NOT DETERMINED; OBTAINED INSTRUMENT RATING 1/3/87. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_CHI88FA046.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.