CHI93LA291 · Beech A-36
Beech A-36 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From SAG · Saginaw, MI to Crystal Airport (MIC)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI93LA291
- 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
- 0 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Beech A-36
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft A-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
- N4518S
- Operator
- Randy E. Bickmann · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From SAG · Saginaw, MITo Crystal Airport (MIC), Minneapolis, MN
- 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 · IFR missed 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Altimeter setting, not corrected
- Pilot in command › IFR procedure, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT AND INSTRUMENT INSTRUCTOR PASSENGER DEPARTED HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT EARLIER IN THE DAY WITH A STOP IN SAGINAW, MICHIGAN, FOR FUEL. THE FINAL LEG OF THE FLIGHT WAS TO THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, AREA ON AN IFR FLIGHT PLAN. DURING THIS FLIGHT THE PILOT REQUESTED A DEVIATION TO HOUGHTON, MICHIGAN, DUE TO DETERIORATING WEATHER AHEAD. THE DEVIATION WAS GRANTED AND ATC PROVIDED THE PILOT HOUGHTON AIRPORT'S WEATHER INCLUDING THE ALTIMETER SETTING. THE PILOT DID NOT REPEAT THE ALTIMETER SETTING. DURING THE APPROACH THE PILOT ELECTED TO GO AROUND BECAUSE HE HAD REACHED A PERSONALLY ESTABLISHED DECISION HEIGHT. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES AND TERRAIN SHORTLY AFTER THE PILOT APPLIED POWER AND PITCH INPUTS. THE ON-SCENE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE AIRPLANE'S ALTIMETER WAS SET TO 29.98' HG., THE AIRPORT'S ALTIMETER SETTING WAS 29.75' HG. AS PROVIDED BY ATC. THE 0113 WEATHER OBSERVATION FROM HOUGHTON CONTAINED AN ALTIMETER SETTING OF 29.73' HG.
Probable cause
the pilot-in-command not following instrument procedures by not using the correct altimeter setting as issued by Air Traffic Control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI93LA291
- Event ID
- 20001211X12871
- Case number
- CHI93LA291
- 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: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 7b9f302d479b6d0603f481dfbe5c6a77144a4b516d97f467f9542263ea40c81b; retrieved 2026-09-21T14:13:50.939Z.