CEN19FA084 · Piper PA32R 301T
Piper PA32R 301T · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) on approach
From Goshen Municipal Airport (GSH) to Goshen Municipal Airport (GSH)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN19FA084
- 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
- 1 · 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 PA32R 301T
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA32
- 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
- N4922K
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Goshen Municipal Airport (GSH), Goshen, INTo Goshen Municipal Airport (GSH), Goshen, IN
- Aircraft age
- About 21 years (built 1998)
- 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
- 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
- Wire
- 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
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot was conducting a practice circling approach in dark night visual meteorological conditions. The published elevation at the destination airport was 827 ft mean sea level (msl), and the published minimum altitude for the circling approach, 1.9 miles from the airport, was 1,460 ft msl. According to radar data, the airplane took off, climbed west, and then turned back to the east. The airplane then started a turn to the north about 1.2 miles east of the airport. Radar recorded the airplane at an altitude of about 1,125 ft msl before radar contact was lost. An airport security video showed the airplane flying toward the airport at what appeared to be a level attitude, followed by a flash of light; the airplane then disappeared from view. The airplane impacted 250-ft-high power lines about 1.37 miles east of the airport; the elevation at the accident site was about 867 ft msl, and the approximate altitude of the collision with the power lines was 1,117 ft msl. The video also recorded what appeared to be a ground explosion and fire, and the airplane wreckage was located adjacent to damaged power lines. There were no radio distress calls received from the pilot. Evidence of collision with the power lines was observed on the airframe and propeller. Most of the fuselage and cockpit were consumed by a postimpact fire. Flight control continuity was confirmed to the extent possible due to fire damage and melting. No evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine were found. Engine drivetrain continuity was confirmed, and the propeller showed evidence of rotation at the time of impact. Postaccident inspection of the airport lighting revealed functionality of all systems, and the airport manager reported that the lighting was turned on at the time of the accident. During the practice circling approach, the pilot failed to maintain adequate altitude to clear the power lines. Given the available evidence, it could not be determined why the pilot was flying at an altitude insufficient to clear the wire tower.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate altitude for undetermined reasons during a practice circling approach in dark night visual meteorological conditions, which resulted in a collision with power lines.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN19FA084
- Event ID
- 20190222X83326
- Case number
- CEN19FA084
- 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, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2019-02-22.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 1aabda8d0acd7a82a7f52494566cf50fcc5c84af801a7995a6c41e97751ee5fa; retrieved 2026-09-15T06:54:34.101Z.