FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

NYC93FA028 · Beech A36

20 Oct 1992 · Middlebourne, WV, United States

Beech A36 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route

From Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport (MFD) to Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO)

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
NYC93FA028
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
2 · 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
N1582L
Operator
Robert J. Carleton · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport (MFD), Mansfield, OHTo Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO), Charlottesville, VA
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
En route · cruise
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 encounter with weather
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
Stall/mush; 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 › Airspeed, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, delayed
  • Pilot in command › Flight into known adverse weather, intentional
  • Pilot in command › Stall/mush, inadvertent
  • Pilot in command › Weather evaluation, improper

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT'S WX BRIEF INCLUDED A FLT PRECAUTION FOR OCCASIONAL MODERATE ICING CONDITIONS. LATER HE RECEIVED A PILOT REPORT OF MODERATE RIME ICING ALONG HIS ROUTE OF FLIGHT, AND AT HIS PROPOSED FLT ALT. THE AIRPLANE WAS EQUIPPED WITH A HEATED PITOT TUBE AND A HEATED PROPELLER. APPROX 1 HR AFTER DEPARTURE THE AIRPLANE STARTED AN UNCONTROLLED DESCENT FROM THE ASSIGNED ALTITUDE OF 9000 FT. THE PILOT REPORTED HE WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN HIS ALTITUDE DUE TO ICE AFTER THE AIRPLANE HAD DESCENDED OVER 1000 FT. HE WAS CLEARED FIRST TO 6000 FT, AND THEN 4000 FT, BOTH OF WHICH HE WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN. HE WAS LAST OBSERVED ON RADAR, DESCENDING THROUGH 2400 FT. A WITNESS ON THE GROUND SAW THE AIRPLANE IN A NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE WITH THE WINGS ROCKING FROM SIDE TO SIDE. HE SAID THE NOSE SUDDENLY PITCHED DOWN AND THE AIRPLANE DESCENDED INTO TREES FROM WHICH A FIREBALL WAS OBSERVED TO EMANATE. RADAR DATA SHOWED AN APPROX 15 KNOT REDUCTION IN GROUND SPEED, IN THE 5 MINUTES PRECEDING THE DESCENT.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S DECISION TO INTENTIONALLY FLY INTO KNOWN ICING CONDITIONS WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL AND UNCONTROLLED DESCENT INTO TREES. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE ICING CONDITIONS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC93FA028
Event ID
20001211X15929
Case number
NYC93FA028
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: ab0c10a8f1726a181633b6caeb6978a53d3af72406a14e4f9d00a0644570edea; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:51:10.468Z.