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MIA85FA123

1985-03-16 · GAINESVILLE, Florida, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport GNV

N545SF has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (WILLIAM CRABTREE WOLVERINE), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE PLT RECEIVED A WX BRIEFING & FILED AN IFR CLNC, THEN DEPARTED VFR. EXCEPT FOR A HDWND, THE 1ST PART OF THE FLT WAS NORMAL. IN THE VCNTY OF MACON, GA, THE PLT REQUESTED & RECEIVED AN IFR CLNC. LATER, HE ELECTED TO DIVERT TO THE GAINES- VILLE RGNL ARPT & WAS VECTORED FOR AN ILS 28 APCH. WHILE DIVERTING, HE INDICATED SOME CONFUSION CONCERNING THE APCH PLATES; AT 1ST, HE STARTED USING THE GAINESVILLE, GA PLATE, THEN HE SWITCHED TO THE CORRECT PLATE (GAINESVILLE, FL). HE HAD DIFFICULTY MAINTAINING HEADING ON THE ILS & MADE A MISSED APCH 2 MI EAST OF THE ARPT. HE ADMITTED HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE APCH, DECLARED A LOW FUEL STATE & RECEIVED VECTORS FOR ANOTHER ILS. AGAIN, HE HAD DIFFICULTY MAINTAINING HEADING CONTROL. ON THE 2ND APCH, THE ACFT WAS OBSERVED TO FLY OVER THE FIELD & THE PLT WAS CLEARED TO LAND ON ANY RWY. HOWEVER, THE ACFT CRASHED ON THE APCH END OF RWY 6. THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF LITTLE MOVEMENT AFTER IMPACT & VERY LITTLE CHORDWISE SCRAPING OF THE PROP. NO FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE FUEL TANKS OR FUEL INJECTOR LINES. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_MIA85FA123.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.