Tar Heel Aviation

During his weather briefing, the pilot was told that his destination weather was not available, and was provided weather for an airport about 10 miles north. He was briefed that low visibility due to fog prevailed. The flight departed earlier then usual because the company business manager was concerned that the weather at the destination airport was deteriorating, and if the airplane was not there earlier they might not get into the airport. At the time of the accident there was a power failure, and lights around the destination airport went out. The airplane had struck power lines and a support tower located on the approach end of runway 1 and runway 5, about 1/2 mile southwest of the airport. The airport had one NDB approach which was not authorized at night. The nearest recorded weather, about 10 miles north of the crash site, at the time of the accident was; '...ceiling 100, [visibility] 1/2 mile, fog, [temperature] 46 degrees F, dew point, 42 degrees F, winds 220 degrees at 5 [knots], altimeter 29.90 inches Hg. Witnesses reported that there was heavy fog at the airport and the visibility was below 1/4 mile.

During arrival, the pilot made an ILS localizer back course approach to runway 16 and was cleared to land. He reported he was initiating a missed approach. Approximately 10 seconds later, he reported the runway in sight and requested a visual approach to land on runway 34. The pilot was cleared to land and the aircraft was observed to maneuver to the right (west of the runway), then turn back left to a final approach. However, it crashed short of runway 34. An exam of the crash site revealed evidence that the aircraft was in a normal upright attitude on a heading of 340°, when it crashed. Initial impact was with the approach lighting system short of runway 34. A King Air pilot, who landed on runway 16 before the accident, estimated the cloud bases were about 400 feet agl. Minimum descent altitude (MDA) for the back course approach was 460 feet msl. MDA for a circling approach to runway 16 was 550 feet msl. The airport elevation was 32 feet. Both occupants were killed.