MKC86MA031 · Rockwell 500-S
Iowa State University Rockwell 500-S · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
From General Mitchell International Airport (MKE) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC86MA031
- 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
- 7 · 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
Rockwell 500-S
- Aircraft type
- Rockwell 500
- 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
- N81589
- Operator
- Iowa State University
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From General Mitchell International Airport (MKE), Milwaukee, WITo 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 · 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Stall/mush; Tree(s); Wire, transmission; Utility pole
- 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 › Aircraft handling, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, inadequate
- Wing › Ice
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
N81589 WAS FLWG A BOEING 727 ON ILS APCH IN IFR CONDS. APRX 2.5 MI FM RWY, N81589 SUDDENLY DEVIATED LEFT NRLY 90 DEG. 39 SEC LATER, PLT RPRTD HE ENCTRD SVR TURBC, THEN SAID HE WAS TRYING TO CLB. N81589 SUBSEQUENTLY FLEW THRU TREE TOPS ON RISING TRRN FOR APRX 2 CITY BLKS, THEN HIT PWR LNS & A POLE & CRASHED AGAINST A TREE. NO EVIDENCE OF TURBC DUE TO WX AT/NR APCH ALT. INV SHOWED 4.7 MI SEPN BTN ACFT WHEN THE 727 PASSED THE POINT OF DVN (POD). AT POD, THE 727 WAS ON THE ILS GLIDE SLOPE AT 850'; N81589'S ALT WAS NOT DETERMINED. WND WAS FM 120 DEG AT 3 TO 6 KTS, SHIFTING MORE SOUTHERLY WITHALT. PREVAILING VIS WAS 1/2 MI; RVR FOR RWY 12L WAS 6000'; LGT RIME ICG WAS RPRTD. WITNESSES HEARD PWR INTERUPTION OF 1 ENG AT POD; BUT THERE WAS NO INDCN OF PWR LOSS WHERE ACFT HIT TREES. RADAR DATA SHOWED ACFT SLOWED TO 80 KTS AT POD, ACCELERATED TO 100 KTS DRG DVN, SLOWED TO 70 KTS BFR IMPACT; VMCA WAS 74 KTS. SAFETY BOARD BELIEVES THE PLT MOST LIKELY LOST CONTROL DUE TO SLOW SPD & LGT AIRFRAME ICG; POSSIBLY ENCTRD WAKE TURBC. NO REASON FND FOR LOSS OF ENG PWR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC86MA031
- Event ID
- 20001214X38299
- Case number
- MKC86MA031
- 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: 67ca30b91bfd7ee1a82f65657e7df57e4e146a40b5b50a7ccadaf5bb33fd05d2; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:45:27.123Z.