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Pilgrim Airlines Beech 99 accident

1 Feb 1982 · Groton, CT, United States

Beech 99 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather on approach

From New Haven, CT to Francis S Gabreski Airport (FOK)

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Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
NYC82AA028
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
Charter & commuter
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 99

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 99
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
N451C
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route Possible conflict
From New Haven, CTTo Francis S Gabreski Airport (FOK), Westhampton, NY
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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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 encounter with weather
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

  • Weather condition › Windshear

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Groton, CT, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

AFTER CROSSING THE MONDI INTERSECTION INBOUND FOR AN ILS RWY 5 APCH, THE CAPTAIN FELT THAT A PROPER DESCENT WAS NOT POSSIBLE DUE TO A STRONG TAILWIND & THEIR PRESENT ALTITUDE. THEY TURNED & PROCEEDED OUTBOUND TO LOOSE ALTITUDE. THE CREWTHEN ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES AGAIN ON THE INBOUND COURSE AT AN AIRSPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 120K. THE COPILOT REPORTED THAT AROUND 300 FT "THE BOTTOM DROPPED OUT." THE ACFT CRASHED ONTO THE SURFACE OF A FROZEN COVE & SLID ONTO MARSHY TERRAIN & STOPPED ABOUT 500 FT SHORT OF THE RWY. A NTSB WEATHER SUMMARY SHOWS THAT THE FOLLOWING WIND REGIMES EXISTED WHEN THE ACFT MADE ITS APPROACH: 5000 TO 24000 FT ASL, WIND 220/50; 2400 TO 450 FT ASL, WIND 180/30; 450 FT ASL TO SURFACE, WIND 100/5. USING THE ABOVE WIND REGIMES & ASSUMING AN APPROACH AIRSPEED OF 123K, THE FOLLOWING GROUND SPEEDS WERE COMPUTED: 5000 TO 2400 FT ASL, 155K; 2400 TO 450 FT ASL, 147K; 450 FT ASL TO SURFACE, 118K.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC82AA028
Event ID
20020917X02480
Case number
NYC82AA028
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: 76b858d1338d9de837deb91399f80a48e1334f05a262f351e9a5c8d41b3f3c02; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:12:41.235Z.