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FTW88FA063

1988-02-18 · LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LCH

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

ACFT CRASHED INTO A LAKE SHORTLY AFTER BEING VECTORED ONTO THE FINAL APPROACH COURSE FOR AN ILS AT 1,500'. TWO CURRENT IFR PLTS WERE ON BOARD. WX AT THE TIME WAS 500' OVC WITH 10 MILES VIS AND NO CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY OR TURBULENCE REPORTED IN THE AREA. NO EVIDENCE OF MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FOUND DURING THE INVESTIGATION AND ALL OF THE NAV FACILITIES WERE GRND AND FLT CHECKED AND FOUND TO OPERATING NORMALLY. THERE WERE NO ABNORMAL TRIM SETTINGS AND THE A/P WAS IN THE STANDBY MODE AT IMPACT. THE APPROACH COURSE WAS IN A PUBLISHED AND ACTIVE MIGRATORY BIRD FLYWAY. LOCAL ORNITHOLOGISTS STATED THAT LARGE FLOCKS OF BIRDS WERE KNOWN TO BE AIRBORNE AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_FTW88FA063.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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