Piper PA-28 · NTSB accident record

Off Course on an IMC ApproachCEN24LA144

An instrument-rated pilot, off course on the approach in a 700-foot ceiling, decides how to realign

Date
Monday, April 1, 2024
Time
~10:27 AM EDT
Weather
IMC · broken 700 ft · 10 SM below · wind 050 at 10 kt · 50°F
Location
Muncie (KMIE), Indiana — RNAV Runway 14 approach
Age
65
Cockpit moment

A Mile Out, West of Centerline

You're in a Piper Dakota, hand-flying an IMC approach into Muncie.

The ceiling is broken at 700 feet; you can't see the runway yet.

Approach turns you onto final, clears you for the RNAV 14, and hands you to the tower.

You cross HIXAG, and the tower clears you to land.

But you're not lined up.

The airplane is tracking west of the final approach course, drifting off centerline in the cloud.

The navigation isn't set up the way it needs to be.

You haven't flown instruments in the last six months.

You key the mic and tell the tower you need a 360 to realign.

You report the field in sight; there's another airplane behind you for the same approach.

Do you improvise a turn to salvage this approach — or fly the missed and start over?

By the numbers
306
spatial-disorientation accidents
20
a year
4%
were survivable
591
lives lost in them
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NTSB accidents, 2011–2025
The decision

Off course, blind, and near minimums — do you salvage this approach or abandon it?