What happened
During a nighttime approach into Iron Mountain-Ford Airport, an aircraft crashed after the pilot encountered severe weather and extremely low visibility. While on final approach, the pilot did not maintain sufficient altitude, resulting in the plane colliding with a dirt embankment. The impact caused the aircraft to catch fire and be completely destroyed. There was one fatality involving the pilot, who was the only person on board at the time of the accident.
Findings
Official investigations concluded that the primary cause of the accident was the pilot's decision to continue flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) despite encountering deteriorating weather conditions. Several contributing factors were identified during the investigation:
- The pilot did not execute a go-around when visibility decreased
- An incorrect altimeter setting was in use
- The aircraft was not properly aligned with the runway centerline
- Actual meteorological conditions, specifically heavy fog, were significantly worse than what had been previously forecasted