ERA16CA056 · Cirrus Design Corp SR22
Cirrus Design Corp SR22 · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) on approach
From Westchester County Airport (HPN) to Danbury Municipal Airport (DXR)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA16CA056
- 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
Cirrus Design Corp SR22
- Aircraft type
- Cirrus SR22
- 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
- N771BT
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Westchester County Airport (HPN), White Plains, NYTo Danbury Municipal Airport (DXR), Danbury, CT
- Aircraft age
- About 5 years (built 2010)
- 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)
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Upon arrival at the pilot's destination airport, the wind was calm, there was no ceiling, and the visibility was unlimited. Sunset had already occurred. Air traffic control directed the pilot to enter a left downwind for the active runway. The pilot then entered the left downwind for the runway at approximately 1,500 feet and confirmed the pattern altitude with air traffic control as there were nearby radio towers. The pilot elected to fly an extended downwind beyond the radio towers, turned left base and then final. On the turn to final, the pilot slightly overshot the runway centerline and then adjusted to align with the runway. Upon turning final, the tower controller realized the runway edge lights (MIRL) were at low intensity, advised him, and increased their intensity making the runway more visible. The runway end identifier lights (REIL) were out of service and the displaced threshold for the runway was unlighted. On final approach, the pilot heard a "thunk" sound and felt a slight jolt as if something had struck the airplane. The pilot continued the approach and landed, touching down beyond the displaced threshold and then taxied to the ramp. Post flight inspection by the pilot revealed that the right wing had a yellowish goo spattered on top of it, a large dent in the TKS anti-ice panel on the leading edge of the outer part of the wing, a small dent in the TKS anti-ice panel on the leading edge more inward on the wing, a third dent on the corner of the leading edge of the composite cap at the end of the wing, and chipped paint on the top of the wing. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector also revealed that a piece of wood with bark on one side of it was wedged between the right wing tiedown ring and the wing structure. Examination of the airplane by maintenance personnel revealed that the solid laminate and sandwich structure of the wing had been substantially damaged. Examination of the surrounding area revealed that trees were present along and below the flight path for the runway. Review of the Airport Facility Directory also revealed that it advised that 88 foot tall trees were present 450 feet from the runway which took a 3:1 slope to clear.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate clearance from obstructions while on approach to landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA16CA056
- Event ID
- 20151203X25726
- Case number
- ERA16CA056
- 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: 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: 4d5b72c4b58c87d74850a38a7e982b9aa3f5b2c09f3baa0e2fc772f40896b3a5; retrieved 2026-09-16T03:00:27.336Z.