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CHI92LA192

1992-06-28 · ERIE, Illinois, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport RLA

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN A PROPER GLIDEPATH.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT STATED HE MADE AN EFFORT TO IDENTIFY POWERLINES ON THE APPROACH END OF THE RUNWAY HE WAS GOING TO LAND ON. HE STATED HE DID NOT SEE ANY WIRES DURING THE TIME HE FLEW A BASE LEG AND FINAL APPROACH. WHILE ON SHORT FINAL, THE PILOT BECAME AWARE OF THE WIRES AND APPLIED BACK PRESSURE IN AN EFFORT TO AVOID COLLIDING WITH THE WIRES. THE AIRPLANE STRUCK THE WIRES AND DESCENDED, UNCONTROLLED, ONTO THE CLEARWAY AREA WHICH PRECEDED THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD. AN ON-SCENE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE 30 FOOT HIGH WIRES WERE LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 300 FEET FROM THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD. THE POLES AND WIRES DID NOT HAVE HAZARD MARKINGS. THE WIRES HAD A COLORATION THAT BLENDED INTO THE TERRAIN THE PILOT WOULD SEE AS HE APPROACHED THE RUNWAY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_CHI92LA192.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.