FTW93FA061 · Beech C24R
Beech C24R · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Springfield Branson National Airport (SGF) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW93FA061
- 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
Beech C24R
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 24
- 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
- N3809Q
- Operator
- Robertson, James R. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Springfield Branson National Airport (SGF), Springfield, MOTo not recorded
- 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 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 › Decision height, disregarded
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS EXECUTING AN ILS APPROACH IN DARK NIGHT IMC, WHEN THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED TREES AT THE 50 FOOT AGL LEVEL, ABOUT 150 FEET BELOW THE DECISION HEIGHT. THE AIRPLANE SUBSEQUENTLY IMPACTED THE GROUND AND BURNED. THE TREES WERE ABOUT 1/2 MILE SHORT OF AND 1/2 MILE LEFT OF THE EXTENDED CENTERLINE OF THE LANDING RUNWAY WHICH WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH AN APPROACH LIGHTING SYSTEM. A PARALLEL RUNWAY, WHICH EXTENDED OUT 1,000 FEET BEYOND THE LANDING RUNWAY WAS EQUIPPED WITH AN ILS AND MEDIUM INTENSITY APPROACH LIGHTING SYSTEM, SEQUENCED FLASHING LIGHTS AND RUNWAY CENTERLINE LIGHTS. THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED THE TREES ABOUT MIDWAY BETWEEN THE TWO RUNWAYS, ON A HEADING TOWARD THE SECOND RUNWAY.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S DISREGARD OF AND DESCENT BELOW THE PUBLISHED DECISION HEIGHT. FACTORS WERE HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN PROPER GLIDE PATH AND LOCALIZER ALIGNMENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW93FA061
- Event ID
- 20001211X16156
- Case number
- FTW93FA061
- 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 1992-12-29.
- API snapshot SHA-256: bed091ee6cebc96530b7f8573d29879aff0958aecbe680b7edf958fa281108a7; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:45:06.912Z.