CEN22LA074 · Mini-MAX 1600R Sport
Mini-MAX 1600R Sport · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) on approach
From Chain-O-Lakes Airport (3IN7) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN22LA074
- 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
- 0
- 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
Mini-MAX 1600R Sport
- Aircraft type
- Mini Max 1600
- 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
- UNREG
- Operator
- Joseph Michael Krol
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chain-O-Lakes Airport (3IN7), South Bend, INTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 13 years (built 2008)
- 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
- Pole
- 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
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Physical
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A pilot witness reported that he and the uncertificated accident pilot met at the local airport to fly; they each flew their respective airplanes for about 30 minutes. The pilot witness reported that as the accident airplane headed back to the airport to land, the airplane’s altitude was too low, and it collided with a light pole. According to the local law enforcement and responding Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors, the airplane came to rest in a residential area and sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage. Examination of the airplane and did not reveal any preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The airplane did not have an airworthiness certificate or registration markings. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the pilot did not have an FAA pilot’s license or medical certificate. Law enforcement reported that the pilot smelled of alcohol and a preliminary breath test revealed a 0.114 blood alcohol content (BAC). FAA regulations state a pilot cannot operate a civil aircraft with a BAC of 0.04 or more.
Probable cause
The pilot’s low-level flight and poor visual lookout which resulted in collision with a light pole on final approach and the pilot’s improper decision to operate an airplane under the influence of alcohol.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN22LA074
- Event ID
- 20211215104408
- Case number
- CEN22LA074
- 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, cause areas. 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: d4684229bc6269d7491ba458517cf1823bdd431519aea7e1d76e6a5dbff03e8e; retrieved 2026-09-16T14:50:02.849Z.