MIA85FA023 · Beech C23
Beech C23 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Palatka Municipal - Lt. Kay Larkin Field (28J) to Bob Sikes Airport (CEW)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA85FA023
- 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 C23
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 23
- 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
- N9242S
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Palatka Municipal - Lt. Kay Larkin Field (28J), Palatka, FLTo Bob Sikes Airport (CEW)
- 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 › Minimum descent altitude, below
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING ARRIVAL, THE PLT WAS CLEARED FOR AN ILS APCH. THE REPORTED WX AT THAT TIME WAS: 600 FT OVERCAST, VISIBILITY 7 MI, WIND 010 DEG AT 6 KTS. THE PLT STATED THAT DURING THE APCH, HE FELT A DOWNDRAFT THAT CAUSED THE ACFT TO BANK TO THE LEFT & PITCH DOWN. THE LAST ALT THAT HE RECALLED READING BEFORE THE 'DOWNDRAFT' WAS 750 FT. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES & CRASHED. A PASSENGER, WHO WAS OCCUPYING A REAR SEAT, SAID THAT THE ACFT WAS IN THE CLOUDS, THEN CAME OUT INTO THE CLEAR WITH JUST ENOUGH TIME TO SEE THE TREES BEFORE IMPACT. AN INVESTIGATION DID NOT REVEAL ANY PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE OF THE AIRFRAME OR POWERPLANT. THE 0057 CST WX (APRX 33 MIN AFTER THE ACCIDENT) WAS, IN PART: 100 FT OBSCURED, VISIBILITY 3/4 MI WITH FOG, WIND CALM. THE ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS ABOUT 200 FT MSL. THE ARPT ELEVATION WAS 215 FT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA85FA023
- Event ID
- 20001214X41613
- Case number
- MIA85FA023
- 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: c2f612159754c1e4ba6c6d1ec2a20dcb3a948a67b9339ed038637c99d0b24bcd; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:15:41.230Z.