CEN13FA067 · Piper PA-28-180

After a 1.5-hour uneventful night visual flight rules cross-country flight and about 18 miles from the destination airport, the pilot contacted the airport UNICOM and requested that the runway lights be turned on. Subsequently, the airport manager who was monitoring the UNICOM frequency turned on the runway lights. The airplane did not land, and no distress calls from the pilot were reported. The wreckage was found 1.25 miles east of the approach end of the runway. Examination of the wreckage indicated that the airplane struck the trees in a shallow descent. The airport manager and another pilot reported that hazy conditions existed about the time of the accident. No mechanical anomalies were discovered with the airframe or engine.

The pilot only had 16.4 hours of night flight time, and his most recent logged night flight time was about 10 years before the accident flight. Family members stated that the pilot did not like to fly at night. The selected runway's precision approach path indicator (PAPI) system was not functional. An experienced pilot who landed his airplane at the airport shortly before the accident reported that he chose to land on another runway after circling the airport and noting that the PAPI was nonfunctional because it was dark on that side of the airport. Examination of the altimeter at the accident site showed that 30.38 inches of Mercury (inHg) was set in the instrument's Kollsman window; however, the area barometric pressure at the time of the accident was 30.17 inHg. The altimeter was bench tested and found to be functional. The inaccurate Kollsman setting would have shown a higher indicated altitude on the altimeter in relation to the airplane's actual altitude over terrain. Thus, the pilot likely thought that he was flying at a higher altitude if he was relying solely on the altimeter instead of on outside visual references during the approach. The combination of the pilot's lack of night flying time, the nonfunctional PAPI system, and the inaccurate altimeter setting all contributed to the accident.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset