FTW95FA407 · Beech A36
Beech A36 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Brownwood Regional Airport (BWD) to Curtis Field (BBD)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW95FA407
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech A36
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 36
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N836AA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Brownwood Regional Airport (BWD), Brownwood, TXTo Curtis Field (BBD)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- In flight collision with object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Antenna
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During a dark night visual approach to an unlighted airport, the airplane collided with a 50-foot tall pole, which was part of the antenna for a nondirectional radio beacon (NDB). The FAA aeronautical study for the installation of the NDB determined that the antenna was not a hazard to air navigation and did not require obstruction lighting. Airport personnel reported the runway lights and rotating beacon had been turned off to close the airport to night operations the night of 9/29; however, a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was not filed. Prior to initiating the flight, the pilot received a weather briefing during which he specifically requested NOTAMs on the airport and was informed that none were on file. Witnesses observed the airplane circle the airport 'two or three times' before entering a descent 'like it was going to land.' Toxicological testing detected doxylamine (Unisom), which is not approved for use while flying, in the pilot's urine. Dextromethorphan (an expectorant), pseudoephedrine and phenlypropanolamine (decongestants) were detected in the pilot's blood and urine.
Probable cause
the pilot's improper decision to attempt a night landing without the visual cues necessary to establish runway alignment. Factors were the dark night light condition, the inoperative runway edge lights, and the failure of airport management to issue a NOTAM that the airport was closed to night operations.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW95FA407
- Event ID
- 20001207X04485
- Case number
- FTW95FA407
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1995-09-30.
- API snapshot SHA-256: fee34d6a5f8e2ed9e7f521d47d01c7276f66291c4c3b739b470621fee078d736; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:35:02.417Z.