GAA19CA401 · Cessna 172 SP
Air Fleet Training Systems Cessna 172 SP · Accident: course deviation on approach
From Groton New London Airport (GON) to Martha's Vineyard Airport (MVY)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA19CA401
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Cessna 172 SP
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N677DM
- Operator
- Air Fleet Training Systems
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Groton New London Airport (GON), Groton (New London), CTTo Martha's Vineyard Airport (MVY), Vineyard Haven, MA
- Aircraft age
- About 15 years (built 2004)
- 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
- Course deviation
- 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 › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that, while conducting an instrument landing system (ILS) approach at night in instrument meteorological conditions and while correcting course on the ILS, she saw full right deflection, corrected to the left, and then observed full left deflection on the course direction indicator about the decision altitude. She added that she then heard and felt a loud "bang." The airplane turned left, she aborted the approach, executed a missed approach, and declared an emergency. She was then vectored to a nearby airport where she landed the airplane without further incident.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. An examination by the Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed pine needles in the damaged section of the left wing.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The airport's automated weather observation station reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was from 220° at 5 knots, visibility 1/4 statute mile, runway visual range 1,800 ft, variable 2,200 ft, cloud condition fog, vertical visibility 200 ft, temperature 21°C (70°F), dew point 21°C (70°F), and altimeter setting 30.01 inches of mercury. The pilot was landing the airplane on runway 24.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain lateral position in relation to the instrument approach course at night in instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in collision with a tree.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA19CA401
- Event ID
- 20190711X74140
- Case number
- GAA19CA401
- 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 2019-07-11.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 52a6e612e3ecb9f67563da4ee91da000202ff9d605cd9c18608e684f82c57a46; retrieved 2026-09-16T09:24:14.858Z.