MITSUBISHI MU-2B-26A, EDGARTOWN, MASS., OCT. 6, 2000–The NTSB issued the final report and probable cause on the fatal crash of former New Jersey legislator Charles Yates. Yates, his wife, Anya, and their two young children perished when he failed to execute an ILS approach into Martha’s Vineyard Airport (MVY). The Board cited “the pilot’s failure to follow instrument flight procedures, resulting in a collision with a tree. A factor related to the accident was the low ceiling.”
Shortly after 2100 EDT, the pilot departed VFR from Trenton (N.J.) Mercer Airport (TTN). According to investigators, Yates neither obtained a weather briefing nor filed a flight plan for the night cross-country flight. He finished talking with TTN tower about two minutes after departure and began talking with ATC through Cape Approach Control at 2138. Yates requested an IFR clearance into MVY; the weather was two miles visibility in mist, an overcast layer of clouds at 100 ft and wind from 340 deg at 12 kt. The temperature and dew point registered 55 deg F and the altimeter setting was 29.86 Hg.
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