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NYC91LA043

1990-12-06 · NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HVN

N5280V has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (SKYSTAR ACFT CO KITFOX IV, built 2009), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE FAILURE OF THE VEHICLE DRIVER TO ADEQUATELY MONITOR THE RADIO/TRAFFIC PATTERN. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: DARKNESS, THE AIRCRAFT'S LOSS OF ELECTRICAL POWER AFTER ACTIVATING THE RUNWAY LIGHTS AND ENTERING THE PATTERN, AND THE LACK OF VISUAL PERCEPTION CONCERNING BOTH THE VEHICLE DRIVER AND THE PILOT.

Factual narrative

DRG FLT, THE PLT NOTED A NEGATIVE READING ON THE AMMETER & CYCLED THE ALTERNATOR SW, BUT TO NO AVAIL. BEFORE LNDG, SHE ACTIVATED THE RWY LGTS & DISCUSSED THE WNDS WITH A DEPG PLT. A COMPLETE ELEC FAILURE OF THE ACFT OCCURRED AS IT WAS ON DOWNWIND TO LND AFTER THE TWR HAD CLOSED. CONSEQUENTLY, ALL EXTERNAL LGTG & COM RADIO IN THE ACFT WERE INOP. A VEHICLE DRIVER WAS MAKING A RQRD INSPN ON RWY 32. THE DRIVER SAID SHE MONITORED THE TWR FREQ USING A HAND HELD RADIO & HEARD A DISCUSION, BUT DIDN'T HEAR EXACTLY WHAT WAS SAID. SHE SAW THE RWY LIGHTS ILLUMINATE, BUT THOUGHT THEY WERE ACTVTD BY THE DEPG ACFT. SHE ANNOUNCED HER FLD PSN & INTENTIONS USING THE GND CTL FREQ. THE PLT LNDD THE ACFT ON RWY 20 & BGN THE ROLLOUT AS THE VEHICLE DRIVER WAS ON RWY 32, CROSSING RWY 20. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT & VEHICLE COLLIDED AT THE RWY INTXN. THE ACFT'S ALTERNATOR & VOLTAGE REGULATOR WERE REMOVED & TESTED, BUT BOTH WERE FND TO BE OPNL. THE OVERVOLTAGE UNIT WAS NOT RECOVERED & THE REASON FOR THE LOSS OF ELEC PWR WAS NOT VERIFIED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_NYC91LA043.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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