What happened
The aircraft departed Elberton, Georgia, around 2043 hours on an instrument flight rules (IFR) plan destined for Lynchburg, Virginia. During the initial approach to Elberton-Windfield Airport, N9477C failed to descend below 4,000 feet. The aircraft was subsequently vectored for a second ILS approach to Runway 3.
The tower controller had left duty, and the pilot activated the sequence flashing lights for the runway. Weather recording instruments showed these lights were active during the first approach but stopped eight minutes before the accident while the aircraft was being repositioned. The aircraft impacted trees and ground short of and left of the runway threshold.
The investigation
Examination of Cessna 172N revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The sequence flashing lights were found to be inoperative at the time of the accident, having failed eight minutes prior during vectoring. The pilot had manually activated them before impact.
Findings
Contributing factors included instrument approach procedure execution errors and failure to maintain visual reference. The pilot did not descend as required during the first approach. Weather conditions were reported as marginal VFR with low ceilings and visibility, complicating the visual segment of the approach.