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CHI86FA172 · Cessna 441

16 Jul 1986 · Norton Shores, MI, United States

Cessna 441 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach

From C19 · Holland, MI to Muskegon County Airport (MKG)

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Event

NTSB case
CHI86FA172
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
Instrument Meteorological Cond

Cessna 441

Aircraft type
Cessna 441
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
N6857E
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From C19 · Holland, MITo Muskegon County Airport (MKG), MUSKEGAN, MI
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 › Decision height, exceeded
  • Pilot in command › IFR procedure, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, poor
  • Pilot in command › Minimum descent altitude, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

N6857E WAS TRANSPORTING EXECUTIVES FROM HOLLAND, MI, TO MUSKEGON. THE PILOT WAS EXECUTING AN ASR APPROACH TO RUNWAY 06. THE MDA IS 537 FT AGL. CO-PILOT CALLED OUT 1200 FEET THEN BELOW 1000 FEET, PILOT CONTINUED APPROACH. AIRCRAFT STRUCK TREES TWO MILES FROM RUNWAY AT 15 FEET AGL. THE APPROACH WAS CONDUCTED IN HEAVY FOG CONDITIONS. THE PILOT HAD DESCENDED BELOW APPROACH MINIMUMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS IN THE PAST.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI86FA172
Event ID
20001213X34097
Case number
CHI86FA172
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: b9fd4c95c614dcf841478c8126480709cc794d3efdde4805a158cbbc9d48401c; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:29:22.736Z.