300ft Ceiling, 384ft Minimums — Pilot Attempts Approach, Crashes Short of Runway

Accident facts and aircraft context

On 3 December 2023, a 1975 Beechcraft C23 Sundowner, registration N76SB, departed Warrenton-Fauquier Airport (KHWY) in Virginia for a local instrument training flight, flying several practice approaches before returning to KHWY to complete the flight.

ATC audio recorded that afternoon captures the pilot working with Potomac Approach through a sequence of RNAV (GPS) approaches.

Purpose of the flight

Local instrument-training operation involving practice approaches.

Flight sequence and key events

As he set up for his final approach, the pilot told ATC he intended to cancel his IFR clearance once he broke out below the clouds and had the runway in sight — a common practice for pilots landing at non-towered fields.

The pilot was flying the RNAV (GPS) RWY 33 approach, with a published LNAV minimum descent altitude of 384 to 424 feet AGL.

ADS-B data showed the airplane descending toward the runway before track data was lost approximately 4,350 feet short of the runway threshold.

The pilot never made an emergency declaration to ATC at any point during the flight.

Investigation findings

The NTSB's investigation found the reported weather at the time was an overcast ceiling of 300 feet AGL — below the minimum descent altitude for the approach he was flying.

The NTSB final report identifies Beech C23 N76SB, destroyed near Midland, Virginia, on 3 December 2023. ADS-B showed the pilot departed Warrenton-Fauquier at about 1308 and conducted three RNAV approaches to Stafford Regional Airport and one to Culpeper before returning to Warrenton. The final approach descended below the published minimums in weather below those minimums; the accident was a controlled flight into terrain.

The Warrenton accident is a clear example of how an approach can continue even when the weather is below the procedure's minimums. The final report connects the descent below the minimum descent altitude with the controlled flight into terrain.

The NTSB's probable cause cited the pilot's decision to descend below the minimum descent altitude without the appropriate visual references, in weather below the approach's prescribed minimums, resulting in controlled flight into terrain.

How the event developed

The pilot descended below the published minimum descent altitude while the reported ceiling was below that minimum. The airplane then continued into terrain.

Sources

• https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/ERA24FA053.aspx