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NYC90FA176

1990-07-28 · NORTH ANDOVER, Massachusetts, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LWM

N333EP has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (DJI AGRAS T25), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE CONTROLLER ISSUED AN UNAUTHORIZED ALTERNATE MISSED APPROACH PROCEDURE THAT DID NOT PROVIDE ADEQUATE TERRAIN CLEARANCE, AND THE PILOT DELAYED OBTAINING A PROPER RATE OF CLIMB DURING THE MISSED APPROACH. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: DARKNESS AND THE WEATHER AND TERRAIN CONDITIONS.

Factual narrative

WHEN THE PILOT REPORTED A MISSED APPROACH, THE TOWER CONTROLLER ISSUED AN ALTERNATE MISSED APPROACH PROCEDURE AS INSTRUCTED BY THE APPROACH CONTROLLER. SPECIFICALLY, THE TOWER CONTROLLER TOLD THE PILOT '. . . FOR YOUR MISSED APPROACH TURN RIGHT HEADING 180 CLIMB AND MAINTAIN 2000.' THE PILOT EXECUTED THE CONTROLLER'S INSTRUCTIONS, TURNED RIGHT AND FLEW TOWARD RISING TERRAIN. WITNESSES HEARD THE ENGINES PRIOR TO IMPACT, BUT THERE WAS NO INDICATION THAT THE PILOT AGGRESSIVELY STARTED TO CLIMB. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH THE TOPS OF 100 FT TALL TREES ABOUT 1/4 MI EAST OF THE AIRPORT AND TO THE RIGHT OF THE RUNWAY CENTERLINE. THE TERRAIN ROSE FROM AN ELEVATION OF 149 FT AT THE THRESHOLD OF RUNWAY 5 TO ABOUT 200 FT AT THE CRASH SITE. THE MISSED APPROACH PROCEDURE (THAT WAS ISSUED BY THE CONTROLLER) WAS NOT AUTHORIZED AS PER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL MANUAL 7110.65. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_NYC90FA176.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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