ERA12CA190 · Piper PA-32R-300
Piper PA-32R-300 · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) on approach
From Winter Haven Regional Airport - Gilbert Field (GIF) to Emanuel County Airport (SBO)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA12CA190
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-32R-300
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N47863
- Operator
- Ronnie Osburn
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Winter Haven Regional Airport - Gilbert Field (GIF), Winter Haven, FLTo Emanuel County Airport (SBO), Swainsboro, GA
- 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 pattern final
- Defining eventThe 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
- Controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that the airplane was approaching the destination airport on the base leg of the traffic pattern in night visual meteorological conditions. At that time, the runway lights were set on high intensity, which diluted the threshold lights. Additionally, the pilot stated that the red localizer antenna hazard lights distracted him (they were located about 750 feet before the runway threshold). He further stated that he was too low and struck trees during final approach. The airplane impacted trees with both wings about 2,400 feet before the runway threshold. The impact with trees resulted in damage to the left wing spar, lower fuselage, and the stabilator. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the airplane. Following the accident, the airport manager checked all runway lighting and found them to be operational.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain the proper glidepath during final approach in night visual meteorological conditions, which resulted in a collision with trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA12CA190
- Event ID
- 20120221X42237
- Case number
- ERA12CA190
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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 2012-02-18.
- API snapshot SHA-256: a63392ad5daa2fe826942f17ff5a3cbb73305622568c64939e46104d24a8e5e8; retrieved 2026-09-15T17:17:43.690Z.