Mooney M20K N1163A

Summary

On 7 October 2005 at about 20:08 local time, a Mooney M20K registered N1163A was involved in an accident near Ithaca, New York, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

7 October 2005 at 20:08

Classification

Accident

Location

Ithaca, New York, United States

Nearest airport

Ithaca Regional Airport (ITH)

Coordinates

42.5358, -76.5236

Aircraft

Mooney M20K

Registration

N1163A

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Millbrook → Ithaca

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC06CA006

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's failure to comply with the published instrument approach procedure, which resulted in an in-flight collision with trees.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

While on a VOR approach, the pilot reported to the control tower that he was 3.5 miles from the airport. Shortly thereafter, the pilot saw the tops of trees about 50 feet in front of the airplane. Without sufficient time to arrest the descent, the airplane impacted trees and the ground resulting in substantial damage. The pilot additionally stated, "I can not really explain why I let the airplane descend too low. I felt comfortable with the approach throughout. I simply was too low, too far away from [the] airport."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.