CHI83FA114 · Piper PA-44-180T
Piper PA-44-180T · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Frederick W. Smith International Airport (MEM) to Indianapolis International Airport (IND)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI83FA114
- 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
Piper PA-44-180T
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-44
- 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
- N8278T
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Frederick W. Smith International Airport (MEM), Memphis, TNTo Indianapolis International Airport (IND), Indianapolis, IN
- 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 go-around
- 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, not identified
- Pilot in command › IFR procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › Missed approach, delayed
- Pilot in command › Proper climb rate, not attained
- Pilot in command › Proper glidepath, not obtained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING AN ILS APCH TO RWY 22R, APCH CONTROL ASKED THE PLT TO KEEP HIS SPEED UP AS MUCH AS PRACTICAL. AT A LATER INTER- VIEW, THE PLT COULD NOT REMEMBER DETAILS OF THE APCH. HE RECALLED PUTTING THE GEAR DOWN AT THE OUTER MARKER (OM) & USING THE AUTOPILOT TO MAINTAIN HIS AZIMUTH ON THE ILS CENTERLINE, BUT MANUALLY CONTROLLING HIS SPEED & RATE OF DESCENT.HE COULD NOT RECALL WHETHER OR NOT HE CAPTURED THE ILS GLIDE SLOPE. HE MONITORED THE RADIO USING HIS HEADSET & ASKED THEPASSENGER (WITH PREVIOUS FLT EXPERIENCE) IN THE RIGHT FRONT SEAT TO MONITOR FOR NO LESS THAN 1000 FT MSL & 80 KTS AIRSPEED. TOWER PERSONNEL REPORTED WHEN HE WAS 1 1/2 MI & 1 MI ON FINAL. THE PLT REPORTED THAT HE SUDDENLY SAW THE RWY AND STARTED DOWN TO LAND. AT ABOUT THAT TIME HE SAW THE RED LIGHTS AT THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RWY & INITIATED A GO- AROUND. SHORTLY AFTER THAT, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES ALONG A FENCE ROW, APRX 25 FT AGL. NO PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION/ FAILURE WAS FOUND. THE PAX COULD NOT HEAR THE RADIO, BUT SAW APPROX 800 FT ON THE ALTIMETER WHEN THE RUNWAY WAS SIGHTED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI83FA114
- Event ID
- 20001214X42146
- Case number
- CHI83FA114
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1983-02-14.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 82c71bda5f6fdb12b293a573a5534176d880b308e047e5789eba68755bb56668; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:01:01.375Z.