Beech 58 accident near Yipsilanti, Michigan, January 25, 1996
On January 25, 1996 at about 1:08 am local time, a Beech 58, registered N4108S, was substantially damaged in an accident near Yipsilanti, Michigan (Willow Run Airport). It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135). No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
was the pilot not maintaining visual separation with the parked airplanes. A factor in this accident was the pilot's over- confidence in his personal ability to taxi onto the parking ramp with the snowfall he was encountering.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- January 25, 1996 · about 1:08 am local time
- Place
- Yipsilanti, Michigan · Willow Run Airport · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Beech 58 · all 58s on the register
- Registration
- N4108S · registry record · serial TH-605
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The pilot was taxiing onto a parking ramp when his airplane collided with a parked airplane. The pilot said a hangar on the ramp's edge had 15 floodlights along its top edge, and a dark area on its middle section. He said the flood lights, his airplane's taxilight, and falling snow caused light reflection that made it difficult to see the parked airplane. He said the dark color of the airplane his airplane struck blended in with the hangar's dark area. An FAA PMI confirmed the pilot's statement about the floodlights and the fact that no taxiway or ramp markings were available.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: airline transport pilot, commercial pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; instructor: airplane single-engine; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 4,900 hours in all; 1,600 in this make and model; 250 in the last 90 days; 70 in the last 30 days; 4,500 as pilot in command; 600 on instruments
- Medical certificate: Class 1 (valid medical--w/ waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Last inspection: approved inspection programme, January 23, 1996; 4 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 5,400 lb
- Seats: 4
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: Continental IO-520-C-7 (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: GRR Grand Rapids MI
- Flight plan: not recorded
- Runway 0
Weather at the time
- Light: night, dark
- Wind: from 300° at 8 knots
- Visibility: 3 statute miles
- Sky: overcast at 1,700 ft; not recorded
- Temperature: 23°F (-5°C), dew point 19°F (-7°C)
- Altimeter: 29.00 inHg
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.