Cessna 340A N340HF

Summary

On 27 January 2012 at about 17:27 local time, a Cessna 340A registered N340HF, operated by Paul Allen Golson, was involved in an accident near Ocala, Florida, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 January 2012 at 17:27

Classification

Accident

Location

Ocala, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Ocala International (OCF)

Coordinates

29.1492, -82.2253

Aircraft

Cessna 340A

Registration

N340HF

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Paul Allen Golson

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Macon → Ocala

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA12FA161

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed and altitude on final approach, resulting in an impact with terrain short of the airport.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot entered the left downwind leg of the traffic pattern to land to the north. A surface wind from the west prevailed with gusts to 15 knots. Radar data revealed that the airplane was on final approach, about 1.16 miles from the runway and about 210 feet above the ground. The airplane then crashed in a pasture south of the airport, in a slight left-wing-low attitude, and came to rest upright. The cockpit and cabin were consumed in a postcrash fire. The pilot's wife, who was in the aft cabin and survived the accident, recalled that it was choppy and that they descended quickly. She recalled hearing two distinct warning horns in the cockpit prior to the crash. The airplane was equipped with two aural warning systems in the cockpit: a landing gear warning horn and a stall warning horn. The pilot likely allowed the airspeed to decay while aligning the airplane on final approach and allowed the airplane to descend below a normal glide path. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the landing gear were in transit toward the retracted position at impact, indicating that the pilot was attempting to execute a go-around before the accident. The pilot made no distress calls to air traffic controllers before the crash. The pilot did not possess a current flight review at the time of the accident. Examination of the wreckage, including a test run of both engines, revealed no evidence of a pre-existing mechanical malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.