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BFO85FA001 · Beech 58

24 Oct 1984 · Hot Springs, VA, United States

Beech 58 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water on approach

From W09 · Leesburg, VA to Ingalls Field (HSP)

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Event

NTSB case
BFO85FA001
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

Beech 58

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 58
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
N777AB
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From W09 · Leesburg, VATo Ingalls Field (HSP)
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 missed 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 terrain/water
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 altitude, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

THE DESTN ARPT WAS UNATTENDED AT NIGHT & WHEN THE PLT RECEIVED HIS LAST WX BRIEFING AT 0519 CDT, NO CURRENT WX INFO WAS AVAILABLE. DURING ARRIVAL, THE ACFT WAS VECTORED FOR AN ILS RWY 24 APCH & THE PLT WAS ADVISED THAT CURRENT WX INFO WAS STILL NOT AVAILABLE. BEFORE REACHING THE OUTER MARKER (FAF), THE PLT STATED (2 TIMES) THAT HE WAS NOT RECEIVING THE ILS LOCALIZER. HOWEVER, THE ADF EQUIPPED ACFT THEN TRACKED BACK ON COURSE & CROSSED OVER THE FAF/LOM BEACON. AT 0801, THE PLT WAS CLEARED FOR THE APCH & RADAR SVC WAS TERMINATED. APRX 7 MIN LATER, HE DECLARED A MISSED APCH, THEN RADIO & RADARCONTACT WERE LOST. THE ACFT WAS FOUND WHERE IT CRASHED ABOUT 1 MI SE OF THE ARPT AT AN ELEV OF 3575'. THE ARPT ELEV WAS 3792'. WHEN THE LOCAL ALT SETTING WAS NOT AVAILABLE & THE ROANOKE SETTING WAS USED, MINIMUMS WERE 630' CEILING & 2 MI VISIBILITY. THE 0810 WX WAS IN PART: 100' OBSCURED & 1/8 MI VIS WITH FOG. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE ILS LOCALIZER HAD TRIPPED OFF FOR AN UNKNOWN REASON AT SOMETIME BEFORE 0755 WHILE THE ARPT WAS UNATTENDED; IT WORKED OK AFTER RESET.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record BFO85FA001
Event ID
20001214X41287
Case number
BFO85FA001
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: 5ab20949f9d70d23e666da461fd839605ae7c2e48aae0af124abc9117402e720; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:16:45.766Z.