Incident Overview
Description
Weather at Huntsville was below minima, so the flight was diverted to Houston Intercontinental Airport. The runway 08 ILS approach was abandoned due to intermittent operation of the aircraft ILS localizer receiver instruments. The crew then tried an NDB approach with Houston TRICON monitoring on surveillance radar. The DC-3 continued descent below minimum descent altitude until the left wing collided with a 23 m high power line tower, located 3 km short of the runway. About 5 m of wing was torn off; the aircraft continued 195 m before striking the ground in a 30-degree nose down and inverted attitude. PROBABLE CAUSE: pilot in command – improper in-flight decisions or planning pilot in command – improper ifr operation FACTORS: weather – low ceiling weather – fog terrain – high obstructions miscellaneous acts,conditions – pilot fatigue
Primary Cause
Pilot in command ? improper in-flight decisions or planning; improper IFR operationPilot in command ? improper in-flight decisions or planning; improper IFR operationShare on:
