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NYC91FA080 · Beech F-33A

3 Mar 1991 · West Brookfield, MA, United States

Beech F-33A · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering

From Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK) to PMX · Palmer, MA

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Event

NTSB case
NYC91FA080
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
Unknown

Beech F-33A

Aircraft type
Beechcraft F-33
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
N77Y
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK), Nantucket, MATo PMX · Palmer, 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
Maneuvering · turn to reverse direction
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 › IFR procedure, not followed
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot in command › Overconfidence in personal ability
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, not possible

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of West Brookfield, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE AIRPLANE STRUCK TREES ON UNLIGHTED, RISING TERRAIN AFTER FLYING AN INSTRUMENT APPROACH TO TONE AIRPORT AND ATTEMPTING TO PROCEED TO ANOTHER AIRPORT. THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED 700 FEET BELOW APPROACH MINIMUMS AND 6 MILES AWAY FROM THE INSTRUMENT APPROACH AIRPORT AT NIGHT WITH RAIN AND LOW CLOUDS PRESENT. RADAR DATA SHOWED THE AIRPLANE OPERATING BELOW THE MINIMUM ALTITUDES FOR THE INSTRUMENT APPROACH AND NOT FOLLOWING THE PUBLISHED APPROACH PROCEDURE. THE PILOT SAID HE DECIDED TO TURN BACK TO THE FIRST AIRPORT AND IN THE PROGRESS THE AIRPLANE STRUCK RISING TERRAIN. THE PILOT SAID THERE WERE NO PROBLEMS WITH THE ENGINE OR AIRFRAME.

Probable cause

THE DECISION OF THE PILOT TO FLY THE AIRPLANE IN CONDITIONS THAT PREVENTED HIM FROM SEEING AND AVOIDING HIGHER TERRAIN. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PILOT'S DECISION TO NOT FOLLOW THE INSTRUMENT APPROACH INTO PALMER, AND THE REDUCED VISIBILITY DUE TO RAIN, FOG AND NIGHT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC91FA080
Event ID
20001212X16674
Case number
NYC91FA080
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 1991-03-04.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 71c7fd6177e3f89cf475d0b94ed19084cef480499663ea58b775bdf5591c9a06; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:30:48.482Z.