CHI87FA153 · Piper PA-28R
Piper PA-28R · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP) to General Mitchell International Airport (MKE)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI87FA153
- 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
Piper PA-28R
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N2678R
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP), Minneapolis, MNTo General Mitchell International Airport (MKE), Milwaukee, WI
- 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
- 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 glidepath, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DRG ARR AT THE MILWAUKEE/LAWRENCE J TIMMERMAN ARPT, THE PLT MADE 2 ATMTS TO USE THE LOCALIZER 15L APCH. AFTER THE 2ND MISSED APCH, HE ELECTED TO DIVERT TO MILWAUKEE/GENERAL MITCHELL FLD (MKE). AT THAT TIME, HE WAS ADZD THE MKE WX WAS 300' OVC, 1/4 MI VIS WITH FOG, RVR 3500'. THE PLT WAS CONTINUALLY ADZD OF THE RVR AT MKE. INITIALLY, THE RVR WAS VRBL BTN ABT 6000 & 3500 FT. AFTER BEING CLRD FOR THE APCH, THE PLT ACKNOWLEDGED CLNC TO TWR FREQ, BUT DELAYED FREQ CHG UNTILREMINDED. WHEN HE FINALLY CONTACTED THE TWR, HE WAS CLRD TO LAND. HE WAS ADZD THE RVR HAD DROPPED TO 2000', THEN ABOUT 1 MIN LATER, WAS TOLD IT WAS 1800', BUT THE PLT DID NOT REPLY. AFTER ABOUT ANOTHER MIN, AN ELT SIGNAL WAS HEARD FOR ABOUT 2 SEC & RADIO CONTACT WAS LOST WITH THE ACFT. THE AIRCRAFT HAD HIT A TREETOP, CRASHED & BURNED ABOUT 1/4 MI FM THE APCH END OF RWY 7. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FND. TEN MIN AFTER THE ACDNT, MKE WX WAS IN PART: 100' OBSCURED, 1/4 MI WITH FOG. MINS FOR THE APCH WERE 200' CEILING & 1/2 MI VIS OR 2400' RVR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI87FA153
- Event ID
- 20001213X31140
- Case number
- CHI87FA153
- 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 1987-06-22.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 5740694581853f9d009925b2ce80dc20aff2f07c6bb821ff15ee47011da5e580; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:06:06.949Z.