What happened
During a night flight conducted under instrument meteorological conditions, an aircraft was executing an ILS approach. The pilot chose to implement a non-published procedure to intercept the final approach course. After successfully establishing the aircraft on the final approach, the plane struck the ground roughly 7 miles from its destination airport. The impact occurred at an elevation nearly identical to that of the arrival airport.
Findings
Investigations into the instrument approach equipment, including both the localizer and glideslope functions, confirmed that the systems were performing satisfactorily both before and after the event. No structural or systemic failures were identified in the aircraft following the crash. However, a significant discrepancy was noted regarding the aircraft's instrumentation; the primary altimeter setting was inconsistent with the actual atmospheric pressure at the time of the accident. Specifically, the number one altimeter was found to be reading 360 feet higher than the actual altitude. While it remains unconfirmed if this error was present before the impact, the pilot had not noted any issues with the altimeters during the pre-flight inspection. The use of a non-published procedure is noted as a critical element of the flight sequence.