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FTW86MA074 · Cessna 310Q

2 May 1986 · Houston, TX, United States

Canfield Aviation Cessna 310Q · Accident: in flight encounter with weather on approach

From Houston Southwest Airport (AXH) to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)

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Event

NTSB case
FTW86MA074
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
0 · 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

Cessna 310Q

Aircraft type
Cessna 310
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
N69668
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Houston Southwest Airport (AXH), Arcola, TXTo George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
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 final
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 encounter with weather
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

  • Approach aids, complete ILS › Not operating
  • Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Control tower service, improper
  • Atc personnel(supervisor) › Supervision, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Decision height, not identified
  • Pilot in command › IFR procedure, improper

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

NTSB narrative

DRG NGT VISUAL APCH, PLT ENCTRD DTRTG WX, GOT VECTORS FOR ILS RWY 8 APCH, WAS CLRD FOR APCH AT 0511 CDT. ON FINAL APCH, HE NOTED HIS #1 & #2 ILS'S GIVING ERRATIC LOC & G/S INFO (BUT FUNCTIONING) & THAT HIS LOC COURSE DEVIATION INFO DIDN'T AGREE WITH ADF, BUT HE CONTD APCH. AT 0512, HE HEARD ANOTHER FLT (LNDG ON RWY 14L) RPRT BRKG OUT OF CLDS AT MINS (200' AGL). AT 0513, THE PLT WAS ADZD THE LATEST WX WAS: 200' BRKN, VIS 3 MI. WHILE THE PLT WAS INTERPRETING INSTRUMENTS, THE ACFT BRK OUT OF CLDS & HIT TREES APRX 3/4 MI LEFT OF COURSE, THEN CRASHED & BURNED. ARPT HAD ILS'S FOR RWYS 8 & 26 (WITHDIFFERENT IDENTIFIERS) THAT USED SAME X-MITTER & FREQ FOR THE LOC. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE X-MITTER WAS SET FOR RWY 26 & THE PLT DIDN'T ID THE SIGNAL. FLT CHK SHOWED ILS WLD HAVE PROVIDED A USABLE SIGNAL IN THAT CONFIGURATION, BUT WITH BACK COURSE (REVERSE) LOC SENSING COMMANDS. TWR CTLR THOUGHT ILS WAS SET FOR RWY 8, BUT DIDN'T RECALL CHGG IT FM RWY 26. ATISHADN'T BEEN UPDATED SINCE 0011 CDT. 0529 WX: 100' OVC, 3/4 MI VIS WITH FOG (1/4 MI VIS AT TWR). ATCT SUPV NOT IN TWR CAB

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW86MA074
Event ID
20001213X33576
Case number
FTW86MA074
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: 556667f04e9ca6d75338d105e8f09a7b56f084020ce9b008a4e85075a9573af0; retrieved 2026-09-21T16:59:29.258Z.