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MIA89LA097

1989-03-02 · JACKSONVILLE, Florida, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport JAX

N3243B has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (BEECH A36, built 1999), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

AN UNSTABILIZED INSTRUMENT APPROACH WHEREIN THE PILOT DESCENDED BELOW THE MDA. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS INCLUDED AN INADEQUATELY EQUIPPED ACFT AND THE PILOT'S LACK OF RECENT INSTRUMENT EXPERIENCE.

Factual narrative

A VOR APRCH WAS ATTEMPTED AT THE ORIG DEST BUT A MISSED APRCH WAS MADE AT MINIMUMS. PLT DIVERTED TO JAX WHERE HE WAS CLEARED FOR AN ILS RWY 7 APRCH. THE ACFT WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH GLIDESLOPE OR MARKER BCN, BUT ATC PERSONNEL STATED PLT MADE IT APPEAR THAT HE WAS EQUIPPED FOR FULL ILS APRCH. XING ALT AT OM IS 1900 FT; FLT CROSSED OM AT 400-500 FT. AT ABOUT 4.5 MI FROM RWY, FLT CLIMBED TO 900 FT, THEN AT 3.5 MI, DESCENDED TO 600 FT. ATC ADVISED FLT OF RADAR-OBSERVED ALT EXCURSIONS DURING THE APRCH. THE PLT STATED THAT HE GOT ON THE LOCALIZER, TRACKED IT FOR AWHILE, THEN GOT OFF. HE WAS TRYING TO RECAPTURE THE LOCALIZER WHEN HE HIT THE TREES ABOUT 1 MI SHORT OF THE RWY. THE PLT'S BFR HAD EXPIRED 2 MOS PRIOR TO THE CRASH & REVIEW OF HIS LOGBOOK SHOWED NO EVIDENCE OF COMPLIANCE WITH FAR 61.57, RECENT IFR EXPERIENCE. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF ANY PROBLEM WITH THE ACFT OR COMPONENTS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_MIA89LA097.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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