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MKC90MA049 · Grumman G1159

19 Jan 1990 · Little Rock, AR, United States

Grumman G1159 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water on approach

From East Texas Regional Airport (GGG) to Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT)

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Event

NTSB case
MKC90MA049
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
7 · 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

Grumman G1159

Aircraft type
Grumman G1159
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
N46TE
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From East Texas Regional Airport (GGG), Longview, TXTo Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT)
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 › IFR procedure, not followed

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

NTSB narrative

DRG ARRIVAL, HVY RAIN SHOWERS WERE RPRTD WEST OF ARPT. AT THE ARPT, THE WX WAS ABT 200' OBSCD WITH FOG & DRIZZLE, WND WAS EASTERLY AT 5 TO 7 KTS. THE PLTS INTENDED TO LND ON RWY 22, BUT AFTER BEING TOLD THE WND WAS GSTG TO 27 KTS, THEY ELECTED TO LND ON RWY 4. THE ACTUAL WND WAS NOT GSTY. THE ERRONEOUS GST INDCN WAS FM A MALFUNCTION OF THE LLWAS. ON FINAL APCH FOR AN ILS RWY 4 APCH, THE FLT WAS ADZD THE WND WAS FM 030 DEG AT 5 KTS & THE RVR WAS 1800 FT. MIN RVR FOR THE APCH WAS 2400'. THE CREW ACKNOWLEDGED; 22 SEC LTR, THE ELT ACTVTD AS THE ACFT TOUCHED DWN 1600' SHRT OF RWY 4 & HIT APCH LGTG SYS, RAILROAD TRACKS & A FENCE. INV REVEALED THE ACFT DSCNDD THRU WINDSHEAR. WHILE MNVRG ONTO FINAL APCH; GND SPD VARIED BTN 320 & 190 KTS AS ACFT WAS MNVRD THRU TAILWIND TO HEADWIND NR FAF. CVR DATA VERIFIED A DELAY IN DSCNT FM 4000' TO 1900' BFR RCHG FAF & THAT THE GEAR WARNING HORN SOUNDED BFR EXTN OF GEAR & SPD BRAKES. THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF LOW ENG RPM DRG IMPACT, BUT NO PREIMPACT MECH PRBLM WAS FND. EACH PLT HAD OVER 10,000 HRS OF FLT TIME, BUT ONLY ABT 160 HRS EACH IN JET ACFT.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO FOLLOW IFR PROCEDURES (MAINTAIN AN ILS GLIDE PATH OR INITIATE A MISSED APPROACH) DURING AN IFR ARRIVAL TO THE AIRPORT. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: UNFAVORABLE WEATHER CONDITIONS, AN ERRONEOUS WIND INDICATION FROM THE LOW LEVEL WINDSHEAR ALERT SYSTEM (LLWAS), WHICH RESULTED IN AN INACCURATE WEATHER (WIND) OBSERVATION, AND FAILURE OF THE PILOTS TO TAKE ADEQUATE REMEDIAL ACTION.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MKC90MA049
Event ID
20001212X22475
Case number
MKC90MA049
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: 5979cd10a58abb9772be38ee70ab3ade5a596bfa8e76563c49a97d3acba32551; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:01:18.241Z.