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CHI90FA131 · Rockwell 114

20 May 1990 · Willoughby Hills, OH, United States

Finder'S Diversified Rockwell 114 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach

From Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) to Lake County Executive Airport (LNN)

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Event

NTSB case
CHI90FA131
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
1 · 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

Rockwell 114

Aircraft type
Rockwell 114
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
N4859W
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Asheville Regional Airport (AVL), ASHVILLE, NCTo Lake County Executive Airport (LNN), Willoughby, OH
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
Wire, transmission; 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, not identified
  • Pilot in command › IFR procedure, not followed

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

NTSB narrative

DRG ARRIVAL, THE PLT MADE 2 VOR APCHS TO LOST NATION ARPT, THEN ELECTED TO DIVERT FOR AN ILS RWY 23 APCH AT THE NEARBY CUYAHOGA COUNTY ARPT. WHILE BEING VECTORED FOR THE ILS, HE WAS ADZD THE LATEST ARPT WX WAS (IN PART): 100 FT OBSCURED, VIS 1/8 MI WITH FOG. AT 2218 EDT, THE PLT WAS ADZD HE WAS 5 MI FROM KROOK (OUTER MARKER/FINAL APCH FIX) & WAS CLRD FOR THE APCH. APCH MINIMA WERE CEILING 200 FT, VIS 1/2 MI. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT DEVIATED ABOUT 1100 FT RGT OF THE ILS LOCALIZER COURSE LINE AND HIT A POWER LINE POLE ABOUT 2500 FT SHORT OF THE RWY. IMPACT OCCURRED ABOUT 12 AGL AS THE ACFT WAS IN A RGT TURN, HDG 290 DEG. THE ACFT THEN HIT A TREE, CRASHED AT THE SAME ELEV AS THE ARPT, SLID INTO THE BREEZWAY OF A HOUSE/GARAGE & BURNED. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT WAS FND. AFTER THE ACDNT, THE NEXT OBSERVATION SHOWED THE WX HAD DETERIORATED TO: INDEFINITE, ZERO CEILING, SKY OBSCURED, VIS 1/8 MI WITH FOG, WIND FROM 360 DEG AT 8 KTS.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO FOLLOW THE IFR PROCEDURE AND TO IDENTIFY THE DECISION HEIGHT (AND/OR MAKE A TIMELY MISSED APPROACH). THE ADVERSE WEATHER WAS A RELATED FACTOR.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI90FA131
Event ID
20001212X23098
Case number
CHI90FA131
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 1990-05-21.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: c83d59ccd6e230efe1029bfc96dc064ee48e2e3caa090bc2bfba0b172d80702a; retrieved 2026-09-21T02:40:33.156Z.