MIA89FA100 · Beech S35
Beech S35 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Athens Ben Epps Airport (AHN) to Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA89FA100
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Beech S35
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N6852Q
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Athens Ben Epps Airport (AHN), Athens, GATo Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), Daytona Beach, FL
- 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 missed 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 › IFR procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Daytona Beach, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
DRG ARR, APCH CTL PROVIDED VECTORS & CLRD THE PLT FOR AN ILS RWY 7L APCH. AS THE ACFT CONTD, THE CTLR NOTED IT WAS APRX 1 MI 'SOUTH OF FINAL' & ASKED THE PLT IF HE WAS RCVG THE LOCALIZER. THE PLT SAID NO. THE CTLR THEN BGN GIVING INSTRNS FOR A SURVEILLANCE APCH & TOLD THE PLT THE MIN DSCNT ALT (MDA) WAS 420', BUT DID NOT CLR HIM TO DSCND. SOON THEREAFTER, THE CTLR NOTED THE MODE C READ-OUT (WHICH HAD BEEN INTERMITTENT) WAS INDCG 400'. THE CTLR IMMEDIATELY TOLD THE PLT TO TURN LEFT TO 360 DEG & CLIMB TO 1600' & THE PLT ACKNOWLEDGED. THE CTLR THEN ADZD THE PLT THERE WAS AN ANTENNA AT HIS ONEO'CLOCK PSN, BUT THERE WAS NO RESPONSE & CONTACT WITH THE ACFT WAS LOST. LATER, THE ACFT WAS FND IN THAT VCNTY WHERE IT HAD HIT TREES & CRASHED ON A HDG OF 160 DEG (1.6 MI WSW OF THE OUTER MARKER, TERRAIN ELEV APRX 35'). THE UNDMGD #1 NAV WAS FND TO BE SET AT 109.75 MHZ. THE ILS FREQ WAS 109.7 MHZ. THE PLT'S ESTD FLT TIME IN THE BEECH S35 WAS 10 HRS; HIS CFI BELIEVED HE WAS NOT CURRENT FOR INST FLT. THE 1342 EST WX AT THE ARPT WAS 300 FT OVC, 2 MI VIS WITH FOG & DRIZZLE.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER IFR PROCEDURE AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN PROPER ALTITUDE. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE: HIS IMPROPER USE OF THE NAVIGATION RECEIVER, HIS DELAY IN MAKING A MISSED APCH, HIS LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN THE TYPE OF AIRCRAFT, HIS LACK OF RECENT INSTRUMENT EXPERIENCE, WEATHER CONDITIONS AND TREES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA89FA100
- Event ID
- 20001213X27934
- Case number
- MIA89FA100
- 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: 79418f7f469e9e0ebf6d1f818b86dced3876573486a9cc02d9107990eff3699a; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:23:03.824Z.