BFO92FA151 · Cessna R182
Cessna R182 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water on approach
From Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN) to Martha's Vineyard Airport (MVY)
Event
- NTSB case
- BFO92FA151
- 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
- 3 · 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
Cessna R182
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 182
- 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
- N102SR
- Operator
- George R. Gladu · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN), New Haven, CTTo Martha's Vineyard Airport (MVY), MA
- 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 final 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 terrain/water
- 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 › Decision height, disregarded
- Pilot in command › Missed approach, not performed
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Edgartown, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS CLEARED FOR AN INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM APPROACH BY THE CONTROL TOWER. THE REPORTED WEATHER CONDITIONS INCLUDED A INDEFINITE CEILING OF 100 FEET AND ONE HALF MILE VISIBILITY WITH FOG. DURING THE APPROACH, THE AIRSPEED, GLIDEPATH, RATE OF DESCENT, AND POSITION RELATIVE TO THE GLIDESLOPE AND LOCALIZER WERE NOT STABILIZED. THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED TERRAIN ABOUT ONE HALF MILE FROM THE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE PUBLISHED DECISION HEIGHT FOR THE APPROACH IS 200 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND. ACCORDING TO AN INSPECTOR WITH THE MASSACHUSETTS AERONAUTICS COMMISSION, THE PRIVATE PILOT WAS PAID TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS TO FLY THE TWO PASSENGERS, AND HE HAD BEEN PAID TO FLY THE SAME ROUTE AT LEAST TEN TIMES BEFORE THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT.
Probable cause
THE PILOTS'S LACK OF REGARD FOR THE PUBLISHED DECISION HEIGHT OF THE APPROACH AND HIS DECISION NOT TO EXECUTE A MISSED APPROACH. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT INCLUDE THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ATTAIN THE PROPER GLIDEPATH AND DESCENT RATE DURING THE APPROACH, THE PILOT'S POOR IN FLIGHT DECISION TO CONTINUE THE APPROACH, WEATHER CONDITIONS WHICH WERE BELOW APPROACH MINIMUMS, DARK NIGHT LIGHTING CONDITIONS, AND SELF INDUCED PRESSURE BY THE PILOT TO COMPLETE THE FLIGHT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record BFO92FA151
- Event ID
- 20001211X15607
- Case number
- BFO92FA151
- 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 1992-09-19.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 266ab069d9875304ae8f29bbf657c9f8dbba5cddae4349747dd9dd95872dd8e9; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:55:42.238Z.