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CHI89FA196 · Beech A36TC

29 Sept 1989 · Greencastle, IN, United States

Beech A36TC · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach

From Warren County Airport/John Lane Field (I68) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
CHI89FA196
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
Visual Meteorological Cond

Beech A36TC

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 36
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
N2YS
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Warren County Airport/John Lane Field (I68), Lebanon, OHTo 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 · VFR pattern base
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 › Proper altitude, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT WAS MAKING A VISUAL APPROACH AT DUSK TO RUNWAY 36, WHICH SLOPED UPWARD FROM THE APPROACH END. IT WAS LIGHTED WITH LOW INTENSITY LIGHTS. AS THE AIRCRAFT WAS PROCEEDING IN THE VICINITY OF A LEFT BASE LEG, IT COLLIDED WITH TREES ABOUT 50' ABOVE THE GROUND. IT THEN CRASHED TO THE GROUND & BEGAN BURNING. ONE PASSENGER EGRESSED FROM THE AIRCRAFT WITH INJURIES FROM IMPACT & FIRE. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNTION WAS FOUND DURING THE INVESTIGATION.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN PROPER ALTITUDE DURING A VISUAL APPROACH AT DUSK. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: LIGHT CONDITIONS AT DUSK, THE PILOT'S VISUAL PERCEPTION, AND THE TREES.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI89FA196
Event ID
20001213X29316
Case number
CHI89FA196
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 1989-09-30.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: ea32dcdb6402d5f8c840ccdeb8af71878ed49707f69816c5b5933a8a1de0351a; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:07:48.955Z.