Cessna 172N N75844

Summary

On 3 March 2004 at about 04:13 local time, a Cessna 172N registered N75844 was involved in an accident near Gig Harbor, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 March 2004 at 04:13

Classification

Accident

Location

Gig Harbor, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Tacoma Narrows (TIW)

Coordinates

47.2689, -122.5667

Aircraft

Cessna 172N

Registration

N75844

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bremerton → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

SEA04LA048

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to follow the published IFR procedure resulting in failure to maintain clearance from objects during an instrument approach. Trees and an inoperative glide slope receiver were factors.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he was practicing night instrument landing system in visual conditions when during the third practice approach, the aircraft collided with an object. The pilot broke off the approach and returned to his base airport where it was determined that the left wing came in contact with a tree. Air traffic communications and radar data indicated that the aircraft was established on the localizer during the three approaches, however, was below the minimum descent altitude of 2,000 feet on the first approach by 500 feet and 900 feet on the second approach when crossing the final approach fix (FAF). The FAF is identified via a radial from a VOR. During the third approach, radar data indicated that the aircraft was tracking on the localizer, but continued to descend to 500 feet about 1.7 nautical miles prior to the FAF. The radar data indicated a climb shortly after this point. Testing of the airport approach equipment revealed normal equipment operation. Testing of the aircraft's #1 ILS system found the glide slope to have extremely low sensitivity. The glide slope receiver also could not pick up a signal. The localizer was within tolerance, but off by a dot and a half. The safety pilot reported that he never saw the airport during the third approach and thought that everything was ok.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.