NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC93LA132
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN A PROPER GLIDE PATH DURING THE FINAL APPROACH, WHICH RESULTED IN THE AIRPLANE STRIKING A MOVING VEHICLE.
Factual narrative
On Sunday, June 27, 1993, at about 1430 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA 30, N7563Y, piloted by William Dixon, of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, struck the top of truck trailer while on final approach to Freeway Airport, Mitchellville, Maryland. The airplane was substantially damaged. The pilot and passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. A flight plan had not been filed for the flight operating under 14 CFR 91. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Inspector, the pilot indicated that he was on final approach to the runway, flying the visual glideslope indicator. As the airplane crossed a road, the right main gear of the airplane struck a truck trailer. The pilot did not think there was much damage until landing, when the right wing settled to the runway. The airplane slid to a stop on the runway. Examination of the wreckage by the FAA Inspector revealed the right main gear had sheared off and that the right wing and propeller were damaged. THE PILOT WAS COMPLETING A CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT TO AN AIRPORT WHERE A MAJOR HIGHWAY CROSSES UNDER THE FINAL APPROACH COURSE. ON FINAL APPROACH, THE PILOT FELT SOME TURBULENCE, ADDED POWER TO CORRECT FOR A SLIGHT SINKING AND MADE A NORMAL FLARE. APPROXIMATELY 600 FEET DOWN THE RUNWAY THE RIGHT WING SETTLED ONTO THE RUNWAY. A WITNESS, ON THE HIGHWAY, OBSERVED THE AIRPLANE FLY A FLAT APPROACH ACROSS THE HIGHWAY, AND THE LANDING GEAR OF THE AIRPLANE STRIKE A MOVING TRUCK TRAILER. POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE REVEALED THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING WHEEL MISSING AND THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR STRUT COLLAPSED INWARD. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1993_NYC93LA132.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint
Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article
Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗